


Dragonborn

by Thorongil82



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), Hiccup Series - Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon), Eight Years after HTTYD, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hiccup Dissapears, Love Triangles, Magic, Nothing to do with Skyrim, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Romantic flight didn't happen, Scars, Soul Fusion, War, how to train your dragon spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-07 07:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorongil82/pseuds/Thorongil82
Summary: “What is it, Stoick?” Gobber asks, concerned about what could have gotten the incredibly, well … stoic, man to go into a massive slump.“He’s gone,” Stoick whispers hoarsely, tears springing to his eyes as he falls to his knees. “Hiccup is gone.”Hiccup left before his trial could commence, choosing to fight the Red Death alone to protect Berk. Now, eight years after, a new threat towards Berk. A group of eight travel to Berk in order to stop this threat. But can they succeed?





	1. Dissapearance

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dragonborn](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/426515) by Incinerator1. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, my name is Thorongil82, leader of a writing group called the G.M.A.D. I'd originally posted this up on FanFiction.net, but with the creation of this account I'm also going to post it on here. This story was originally written by an author on there called Incinerator1, but they discontinued it and I was later given permission to write it myself. Enjoy!

“HICCUP! HICCUP!”

If you were to be on the island of Berk at this moment, an island filled with some of the strongest, toughest and stubbornest Vikings of their age, then you would be able to hear this scream across the entire village. Everything in Berk would be normal, a typical day for the inhabitants, if it wasn’t for the constant raids from the Dragons that live on an island hidden by the thick fog of Helheim’s Gate.

The other peculiarity was that today was the final exam for the winner of this year’s Dragon Training, which would be starring the Chief’s son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. The fact that his performance against the dragons spiralled to unbelievable heights, ending up with him being chosen to fight the Monstrous Nightmare, had shocked the entire village. Especially a young, beautiful, but currently angry, blonde haired girl who is currently searching the village for the seemingly missing boy.

“HICCUP!” the blonde girl, Astrid, screamed again, storming up the hill to the house of one of the greatest chiefs in Berk’s history, Stoick the Vast.

“HICCUP! IF YOU DON’T GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW, I WILL BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN AND DRAG YOU DOWN TO THE ARENA BY YOUR EAR!” threatened the obviously pissed off Astrid. She still hadn’t gotten over her frustration of Hiccup beating her in Dragon Training.

After a moment of silence, Astrid yells at the boy thought to be hiding in the house.

“HURRY UP! THE WHOLE VILLAGE HAS BEEN WAITING THE LAST TWO HOURS FOR YOU TO TURN UP!” she yells, waiting for a response. When there is none, she screams out loud in frustration.

“HURRY UP AND GET DOWN THERE SO YOU CAN KILL THAT ACCURSED DRAGON FOR YOUR INITIATION!”

When another fairly long silence spans after her rant, she stomps up and, with lots of strength for someone her age, kicks open the door. In her rage the thought that it was the chief’s house that she was forcing her way into didn’t cross her mind.

“Hiccup?!” she cries as she strides into the empty living room, the fire pit in the centre cold and unlit.

After looking under and behind all the furniture and in all the nooks and crannies downstairs, Astrid convinced herself that the auburn haired boy wasn’t downstairs and walked up the steps, making her way to his room.

‘ _Where else could he be hiding?_ ’ she thought to herself.

Reaching his bedroom door, she proceeded to the same approach that she took with the front door. She gave a mighty kick and stormed into the room, only to find it devoid of any presence of Hiccup.

“Hiccup? Where are you?” she asks to the empty room.

Scanning around for any sign of where he could’ve gone, her eyes fall upon his work desk. The top of the desk and the wall above was cluttered with lots of sketches of inventions, built and unbuilt, people and dragons. Most of the dragon sketches were of a type that she couldn’t recognise.

‘ _Wow. Hiccup can really draw,_ ’ she realises as her gaze lingers on each parchment.

One of the sketches catches her eyes, which she picks up curiously. She takes a small gasp as she recognises that the drawing is of her, looking incredibly stunning. Her features are drawn to perfection, eyes sparkling and a captivating smile gracing her face. In the bottom corner in what Astrid recognises is Hiccup’s handwriting is, _Astrid, a true Valkyrie._

“Hiccup …” she whispers, unsure of what this means.

Putting the drawing down carefully, her attention is then grasped by the folded piece of parchment next to a closed notebook.

‘ _What’s this?’_ she wonders as she looks at the name on top of the parchment.

‘ _This is addressed to Stoick … Wait! This … this is from Hiccup!’_

Astrid hastily unfolds the paper and begins reading the revealed-to-be letter from Hiccup, concern and worry taking the place of the anger she was feeling moments before.

_Dear Dad,_

_If you have seen this, then you have noticed that I am missing. By the time you have read this, I will be long gone. Please listen to my plea, do not search for me. I have gone on my own to the nest on Dragon Island._

“Hiccup is on Dragon Island?!” Astrid exclaims, full of fear for Hiccup. Through her shock and fear for the one she hated just yesterday, she continues reading.

_Well … not alone. Just listen to my explanation, every ounce of it is true. No matter how shocked, angry or however else you feel as you read this, please don’t stop reading until you reach the end. ‘Why have I left?’ you may be wondering. Do you still remember that night when I claimed to have shot down a Night Fury? Well, I found that same Night Fury tangled up in the bola that I shot at him, deep in the forest. Yes, I, Hiccup the Useless, the Failure, the Disappointment, was the first Viking in history to bring down a Night Fury._

“What?! Hiccup actually shot down the Night Fury?!” Astrid exclaims, completely awe-struck with his accomplishment. Her expression drops to sadness as she remembers everyone’s reaction.

“No one believed him, not a single person,” she sighs sadly. “Oh, Hiccup … I’m sorry for not believing you. You’re not any of those things …”

Again, with the mixture of shock, fear and now awe, she continues reading.

_I looked on the body of the Night Fury and looked over his face, comprehending what I had done. Suddenly, his eyes shot open, looking at me and struggling slightly against the ropes. I was scared and did what any sensible Viking would do, I grabbed my dagger and prepared to cut out the dragon’s heart and present it to you, showing everyone that I was a dragon slayer like all of you. But just as I was about to perform the deed, I looked into his eyes. He was scared, just like I was. You could see the intense fear with the unavoidable death standing in front of him, in my form. I looked at him and I saw myself. So I did what any insane Viking would do. I cut him loose._

_When he was freed he pounced on me, pinning me to the ground. I then felt like MY imminent death was upon me, until he screeched at me and let me go. After the first training session, I followed where he went and found him stuck in a cove. ‘How was he stuck?’ you must be wondering. He couldn’t get out because, as I soon found out, his left tailfin had been shot off by my bola, rendering him unable to fly. It was then that he noticed me._

_After that encounter, I started to gain the dragon’s trust, eventually naming him Toothless, on account of him having no teeth when I first got a good look at it. If you must know, he has retractable teeth. I then started spending more time with him, also making a tailfin so he could fly and a saddle so that I could ride him. After a few failed unsuccessful attempts, we managed to get airborne, with me on his back on account that someone needed to be controlling the tailfin that I had made so that flight could be achieved. By spending time with Toothless I was able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the dragons, which I was able to test in Dragon Training. All the new information that I was able to find out is written in the notebook next to this letter, the pressure point under their necks, their unexplainable attraction to the sun’s light reflected off of metal, a plant that sends them into a soothing peace which I have named ‘Dragon Nip’, and their natural fear of eels. I hope that you use this information wisely and not for the destruction of the dragons._

“Why would you give us this information if you don’t want it to be used?” Astrid asked, though more to voice her question than anything else.

_Although there are many tradition-defying, and I will admit, somewhat treacherous to you all, acts that are listed here, none of them are the reason that I have left. During one of my flights on Toothless, he started acting weird before, without warning, flying into the depths of Helheim’s Gate. As the mist engulfed us, I noticed that there were other dragons flying towards the same location, Dragon Island. I first thought that they were bringing together their entire kill to feast upon, until they started to dump it all down into a large, deep, smoky hole lit eerily by the magma below. I was discombobulated by this strange act. That is, until a Gronckle offered up a miniscule fish that it regurgitated. After hearing the fish hit the bottom of the pit, a loud growl emanated from the abyss. Before I knew it, a gargantuan dragon head lunged forth from the smoke and ate the Gronckle whole, one single bite. I was shocked, until it noticed me, then I feared for our lives. It was a narrow escape, but we managed to get free. When we landed in the cove, I realised that the dragons don’t attack us willingly; they are forced to by this monster. They are not what we think they are._

_So I have gone to fight the giant dragon, in which I may never return. Do not follow me. The usual methods we have will not work against this one. If anything should happen to me, then Dad, despite the arguments and disagreements we have, you are the best and I love you. Gobber, I hid your beer drinking hand under your bed, thank you for being there for me. And, Astrid … I love you._

_Hiccup_

Astrid has never been as shocked in her entire life combined than she does right now.

“H-H … He loves me?!” Astrid gasps, staggering back a couple of steps and tripping onto Hiccup’s bed. Her heart feels like a thousand knives are tearing at it, tears forming in her eyes.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the tears threatening her eyes, she quickly refolds the note up. Grabbing the notebook Hiccup has provided, she rushes back to the arena, pushing her way through the crowd of Vikings to reach Stoick, the news of his son’s disappearance weighing heavy on her heart.

“Where is my son?!” he bellows at the crowd, not noticing Astrid’s return.

“I … I think he’s on Dragon Island,” Astrid timidly replied, feeling scared and sad with her eyes glistening with tears.

“What?” Stoick exclaims hoarsely, his strong voice failing him.

“He … he left th-this,” Astrid says, handing the letter and notebook to the chief as she struggles to keep it together. Her own voice is threatening to break on her.

Stoick snatches both items from her, opening the letter as he starts to read Hiccup’s account. Many emotions can be seen flickering across his face. Confusion, shock, joy, disbelief, anger, fear, sadness, all these show on his usually stern but warm face, most more than once. When he is finished, the note falls limply to his side, and all he can feel is sadness and fear for his son.

“What is it, Stoick?” Gobber asks, concerned about what could have gotten the incredibly, well … stoic, man to go into a massive slump.

“He’s gone,” Stoick whispers hoarsely, tears springing to his eyes as he falls to his knees. “Hiccup is gone.”

His declaration travels across the crowd in a wave, passed on by those who had managed to hear the distraught chief. Soon the entire village knew of Hiccup’s disappearance and were saddened by the loss, none more so than Astrid and Stoick.

* * *

**_Dragon Island: Battle of Hiccup and Toothless vs The Red Death_ **

Hiccup and Toothless slice through the air like a knife, the Red Death following closely behind with small holes in its wings from Toothless’ plasma blasts.

“Wait for it …” Hiccup says as he and Toothless hurtle towards the ground, the Red Death snapping at the Night Fury’s tail.

“Wait for it …” he says again, closing his eyes as the Red Death opens its mouth, the gases building up in the insides of the dragon. Hiccup listens to the sound of the building gas, waiting for the opportune moment.

“NOW!” he shouts, flipping Toothless over so they both could face the gargantuan dragon.

The Red Death widens its mouth, ready to ignite the gas. Just before it can, Toothless quickly fires a plasma blast into its mouth. The Red Death swallows the powerful shot, the flame igniting the gases within, creating a sudden inferno inside the dragon. Hiccup and Toothless flip around again before pulling out of the descent of the massive dragon. The Red Death slams into the base of the volcano, creating a giant, intense explosion. Hiccup and Toothless zigzag between the spikes of the giant, the burnt artificial fin flapping uselessly with each swerve. It comes loose just as the large bludgeon-like tail looms above the duo.

“No … No!” Hiccup cries as they collide with the weapon, knocking Hiccup unconscious and sending him out of his saddle. Toothless roars in desperation as he loses control, before righting himself and flapping after his rider, his best friend.

Both fall towards the ground, becoming engulfed in the inferno rising from the exploding dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, at this stage there are 9 chapters already written. I'll look to upload a new chapter every 2-3 days if possible - just bear in mind I'm in Australia, so I'm operating on AEDT. Once those chapters are up, uploads will come when they come. I really don't have much of a schedule. 
> 
> Please feel free to leave comments of your thoughts. Any suggestions and constructive criticism is very welcome. Until next time, adios.


	2. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight years have passed since Hiccup disappeared to face the Red Death. Across the horizon, new figures have their eyes set on the Viking isle, while some Hooligans still mourn for their lost and fallen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here. Just that the usual gang would now be around 23 due to the time that had passed. Thank you to the people that left kudos on the previous chapter. Also, have you seen the new trailer? If you haven't, go watch it. Unless you want to avoid any spoilers at all cost. In which case, avoid it like the plague.

**_Veil of Helheim’s Gate. Eight years after Hiccup’s disappearance._ **

A beautiful day shines out over the Archipelago. White, fluffy clouds float lazily over the peaceful seas, nothing wrong with the world. That is, until eight dragons spew forth from the thick, visually impenetrable foggy wall of Helheim’s Gate. If anyone were to be able to see the sight, they would think that they were dreaming.

Of the eight dragons, seven were flying in a V-formation. Bringing up the rear was a large forest green Gronckle and a greenish-blue Zippleback with black flaming designs and orange outlines. Clinging to the top of the Gronckle is a small sky blue Terrible Terror. In front of them are a Nadder and a Monstrous Nightmare, side by side. The Nadder had a wildish look to it, though it seemed like almost every other Nadder seen. The main difference is that the horns on top of her head were curved backwards and could be fired out, acting like a boomerang. The Nightmare was huge, matching a Timberjack in size and probably could’ve passed for one too. The skin was an intense bright red and he had little curved claws on the wings.

As amazing as the sight of the five dragons at the rear of the formation was, none of it compared to the absolute rarity in front of them. Leading the V-formation were three Night Furies. The left one looked like a battle veteran, one who had seen and engaged in conflict his whole life. Scars scattered his entire body and the wings were fairly tattered, holes and slashes punctuating both wings. It is amazing that he could still fly. On his head was a large silver scar running from the back of the neck, through his right eye and down to the bottom of his lip (no, it’s not me). The Fury on the right was a bit slender then the normal Night Fury and had a distinctly crescent moon shaped birthmark on the middle of her head, coloured silver like the previous Night Fury. The third lead the group at the apex, guiding the group along their journey. It looked just like your average Night Fury, except for the fact that it had an artificial left tailfin, the real one having been taken off.

“ _Are we there yet?”_ asked the Terror, obviously in Dragonese, getting bored and antsy over the length of the trip.

“ _For the tenth time, we get there when we get there!”_ growled the annoyed Gronckle carrying him.

“ _Come on, Bomber. Don’t be so hard on Terry,”_ replied the left head of the Zippleback.

“ _Well, you don’t have a chatterbox riding on your back now, do you, Spitshot?”_ retorted the Gronckle, Bomber, with a greatly increased annoyance shown on his face.

“ _I’m not a chatterbox!”_ whined Terry, the Terror.

“ _Speak for yourself. I’m attached to a chatterbox,”_ the right head of the Zippleback sarcastically replied, ignoring Terry’s complaint.

The remark was met by a head-butt from the left head, Spitshot, before his annoyed comeback.

“ _At least I don’t look as ugly as you, Spitfire.”_

“ _Uh, we’re twins, dimwit!”_

“ _Big fail there, Spitshot,”_ remarked Bomber.

The argument escalated quickly between the three, with the occasional remark from Terry. After a few minutes of the louder, constant bickering, the Nadder became greatly annoyed.

“ _Ugh, will you lot shut up back there?!”_ she snaps, her words falling on deaf ears.

“ _Hey Natalie, I’ll shut them up for you,”_ flirted the Nightmare to Natalie, the Nadder, before flying towards the argument.

Upon seeing the Nightmare arrive, the others instantly added him to the quibble.

“ _Hey, Draco. Tell these idiots that I’m the smart one,”_ Spitfire says.

“ _In your dreams, Spitfire,”_ Spitshot replies.

“ _Hey guys, knock it off. Natalie’s getting really annoyed,”_ Draco, the Nightmare, commands.

“ _Ooh, look who’s trying to impress the girl,”_ Bomber chortled teasingly.

“ _Shut up!”_ Draco yells, completely embarrassed. If he was a human, he would be blushing furiously. In frustration he slams Bomber with his tail, which sparks Bomber to ram into him. The force sends Draco flying back, hitting Spitshot.

“ _Hey!”_ Spitshot yells, hitting Spitfire, her brother. Spitfire head-butted back, knocking Spitshot into Draco and starting the conflict all over again.

Before it could escalate to out of control proportions, the quarrelling reached the ears of the Night Furies, sparking a reaction from the heavily scarred one. He let out a loud angry roar, releasing his frustration in one powerful blast, causing the fight to stop midway.

“ _What do you lot think you’re doing?! Get back in formation!”_ roared the Night Fury in … well … fury.

“ _Yes, Thane,”_ the dragons replied simultaneously, falling back into their positions.

“ _Come on, Thane. Calm down,”_ soothed the slender Night Fury.

The heavily scarred one, Thane, took a deep breath, calming himself down.

“ _Fine, Catherine. But next time, they won’t be so lucky,”_ Thane said.

“ _Yes. Yes they will,”_ replied Catherine, the slender Fury.

“ _However, their argument did bring up a fair point,”_ Thane pointed out, addressing the lead Night Fury. _“How far away are we, Hiccup?”_

“ _Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon,”_ replied Hiccup as they flew as fast as they could in the direction of the closest Viking inhabited island.

‘ _After all these years, I am finally going home,’_ thought Hiccup as they neared the shores of the island. _‘I finally get to return to Berk.’_

* * *

**_Berk, Present Time._ **

Eight years after Hiccup’s disappearance and Berk is relatively unchanged. The village still had the same layout, same design. Though the raids had become almost non-existent, there were still the occasional burnt down and rebuilt house. The Vikings attitude towards dragons still hadn’t changed and their hatred still burnt true, though dragon training had changed a bit over the years. Since the raids grew less and less, they needed to make the dragons last longer in the arena, lest they not be able to capture a replacement.

Overall, eight years and hardly any change … that is, unless you were Stoick the Vast and Astrid Hofferson, who felt the days go by like eternity.

Hiccup’s ‘suicide mission’ had taken its toll on Stoick. He was never the same, having already lost his wife, Valka. Now that Hiccup was gone, he felt like an empty shell, devoid of any warm feelings. He still performed his chiefly duties, but the spark was gone from his eyes. Gone was the hearty, strong-willed, powerful man that was Stoick the Vast, replaced by the sad, heartless shell that he had become. Allowed to grieve for a bit, he would return to his responsibilities. However, he would leave the village mysteriously every month, disappearing for two days before returning on the third, looking more downcast than ever. None of the villagers knew where he went, except Gobber who was the only one who seemingly could get some sort of glimpse of the former chief. Stoick would travel a cave on the opposite side of the island, where no one could hear him cry. There he would weep for his lost son, reading the letter Hiccup left behind, before sobbing even more.

Great as the grief of the village once was and the depression of Stoick, no one was more affected by the loss than Astrid Hofferson. She was never the same, losing the fire that made her who she was. When Dragon Training came around again, she never could compete with the same grim determination she showed when Hiccup was around. Somehow, though, she still managed to be chosen for the final exam thanks to the clumsiness of the other teens. They all took part again because there was no initiation the year Hiccup disappeared in his honour. She barely passed her initiation, almost getting killed in the process. As the years went by, she spent less time with her friends and training herself, instead staying in her room and crying her heart out over Hiccup. The last words he said to her played over and over in her head, ‘ _Astrid … I love you,’_ etched into her mind.

Even in sleep she couldn’t find rest, crying herself to sleep before seeing her dreams. Hiccup was there, in almost every one. She would either dream peacefully, Hiccup holding her and telling her over and over the he loved her as they sat down in various beautiful environments, embracing and occasionally kissing each other, or she would have nightmares, viewing Hiccup as he would die over and over again, sometimes quick and precise, other times slow and painful, his tortured cries of pain breaking Astrid apart. Each time she could only watch on as he was slaughtered time after time, unable to do anything to save him no matter hard she tried. Whenever it happened she would wake up screaming, only to find herself in her room. She would then pour her heart out, the pain too much to handle, curling up into a ball and rocking herself to try and fall back asleep, though more often than not she would stay awake to not go through the suffering again. The nightmares had come at the beginning, their frequency far outnumbering the opposite.

What the villagers found three days after Hiccup’s disappearance did nothing to help either of their depressive states.

* * *

**_ Flashback: Berk, Three Days After Hiccup’s Disappearance. _ **

_A cloudy, windy day took the place of the third day. Many people, though working on their jobs, would keep an eye on the horizon, searching for any sign that Hiccup would return to them. Stoick would glance worriedly whenever he could, his thoughts focusing on how he had treated his son over the years. That was the thought that had crossed all their minds and they all felt guilty for how they had shoved Hiccup aside. Astrid had been seen spending her waking hours sitting on a cliff on the edge of the village, gazing out towards Helheim’s Gate with worry and fear in her eyes. She would sit there all day, either staring out to sea or occasionally sharpening her axe with a whetstone, never moving except to go and eat, which at times she had to be forced to do so. Sometimes the other teens would sit next to or near her, Fishlegs the most. He always had this sort of acceptance for Hiccup, and as such generally left him alone._

_It was during the gale-fuelled afternoon that a Viking chose to take a walk along the shores of Berk. What he found along the beaches shook him to his core as he ran as fast as he could to the village. Upon finding Stoick, he hastily gave a huffed account of what he had seen. With a strange and concerned look on his face, Stoick made his way down to the beaches, the rest of the village in tow. A massive wave of shock struck the village at the sight before them. Lying on the sand was the charred carcass of a gargantuan dragon, the largest they had ever seen. Originally a trickle of hope could be felt, as they all knew that this sign meant Hiccup had succeeded, but before they could begin celebrating a closer examination of the body brought them tumbling back down to the ground. Lying next to the carcass was a leather saddle and a slightly burnt, brown fur vest. Stoick’s heart broke at the discovery as he dropped to his knees and wept in front of everyone. Astrid was shedding tears too, though she tried her best to hide them, only small teardrops trickled down her cheeks. When she was alone in her room, she let them flow freely when the realization finally hit her completely._

* * *

**_Berk, Present Day, The Cove, Early Afternoon._ **

“ _Oh, ground! How I’ve missed you!”_ Terry proclaimed as he proceeded to kiss, or the dragon equivalent of it, the ground upon touching down.

“ _Well, here we are,”_ Hiccup mentioned as he gestures to the rocky walls surrounding them. _“This is Berk.”_

“ _Good, now let’s get out of our dragon forms,”_ Thane says. _“Someone might pass and I don’t think dragons are a welcome sight here.”_

“ _Yes, Thane,”_ everyone replies in unison.

The dragons surround themselves in a fierce swirling wall of fire, a different colour for each dragon. When the fire was extinguished, nine humans stood in the place where the dragons were moments before.

“Ah, it’s good to walk on two legs again,” sighed Bomber in Norse as he stretched his arms towards the sky.

In his human form, Bomber would be one of the largest people you had ever seen. Towering at six foot six, his upper body was completely covered in bulging muscles, to the point that he could crush stone with his bare hands. His legs were thick and long. He had a square jaw and his hair was buzzed, usually with a kind smiling expression across his face, like right now.

“Finally! In my own body!” Spitshot and Spitfire exclaimed at the same time.

Spitshot and Spitfire were almost identical, the main difference being that they are opposite genders. Spitshot was the girl and had short straight blonde hair, while Spitfire, the boy, had medium-length spiky blond hair. Apart from that, they were the same. They wore the same outer garments, quite short and a mischievous look. Everyone knew that if they couldn’t see them for too long, you would be likely to have a firecracker in your pants or be missing your money. They were also expert bomb-makers, as seen by the ring of bombs hanging of their waists.

“I can feel my legs!” cried a relieved Terry.

Terry was the youngest of the group at age 6 and was also quite small for someone his age. He looked like a younger version of Hiccup, hence him being dubbed ‘Hiccup II’. He had a messy brown mop of hair and freckles scattering his face. Strapped across his back is a staff with a large ring at one end, with more rings circling around it (just think of the solar system). Tied to his waist were pouches containing magical materials and herbs.

“Speak for yourself, Terry. My legs always feel like my arms in Nadder form. It’s really uncomfortable,” complained Natalie, rubbing her legs to get the feeling back.

Natalie looked like the female version of Tarzan, just with more clothing, a true wild girl. Co-incidentally, she was also found in a forest, but that is another story. She had long flowing brown hair that reached her hips and well-tanned skin. Around her neck was a necklace decorated with the teeth of many different predators and strapped to her back was a long, pitch-black spear, the only lightly coloured part was the silver edge of the spearhead.

“All your problems are nothing compared to mine. I could barely see my biceps,” Draco said as he flexed and admired his muscles.

Draco had a similar body build to Bomber’s, just that instead of being a towering figure, he was fairly stout, only reaching five foot four. Along with his ripped muscles, he also had black hair that reached the bottom of his neck. Because of this, many girls would fall for him at first sight. The problem was that his ego was the size of the Red Death, scaring or disgusting those that liked him. This was proven because he would constantly brag about his achievements to Natalie. To make matters worse, the hammer and shield on his back were enchanted so that they would keep tally of how many enemies he had defeated. At the moment, they totalled 212.

“All of you get comfortable. We won’t be able to transform for a while because the people here are still hostile towards dragons,” ordered Catherine as she stretched herself out on the ground.

Catherine is just younger than Hiccup, aged 21. She was extremely attractive, slender and thin but very strong. Her hair was jet-black and tied up in a long ponytail. A large assortment of knives and daggers dangle from her waist and sheathed on her back is what looks like an ancient katana with a cracked skull on the hilt. In the middle of her forehead was the silver coloured crescent shaped birthmark.

“Alright everyone, let’s start setting up camp,” Thane ordered. “Bomber, Spitshot and Spitfire, you guys put up the tents and build a fire pit. Terry, when they are done make sure the fire is smokeless. We don’t want to draw any attention at the moment. Natalie and Draco, go gather food and wood for everyone. Catherine, you go stand outside and make sure we don’t get any intruders.”

Obviously Thane was the heavily scarred Night Fury, which were displayed all over his body. Thane was also the leader of the small band. He was neither ripped nor scrawny, instead embracing the ‘lean but mean’ look. The muscles on his body were somewhat prominent and he was around six feet tall. Scars riddle his entire body, the silver scar on his face starting from his eyebrow, going through his right eye and down to his chin, making him look incredibly intimidating and ferocious. He had long, black spiky hair that stretched down to his hips and rarely ever smiled. He had four swords, two slung over his back and two on his waist. The ones on his waist were enchanted so that they could invoke the powers of thunder and lightning. (Now I know what you’re thinking. No, this is not me)

“I don’t want to be with Draco anymore,” complained Natalie.

“Go now or you’ll be sharing a tent with Draco. And I don’t care what happens in there,” Thane threatened, Natalie hurrying off straight away.

“What about me?” inquired Hiccup, noticing he was the only one that wasn’t assigned a task.

Hiccup had changed a lot over the years. He was now 22 years old, taking the whole ‘lean but mean’ build into account like Thane. His hair was still the auburn messy mop it always was, but the rest of him had changed a bit, making him more handsome and tough, though he still managed to retain his signature lopsided smile. His old characteristics were still with him, though he now carried a blood red sword that hung off his waist. In connection to the colour, the sword was inscribed with the name, ‘ _Life Rend_ ’.

“Hiccup, you get to go to the village,” Thane answered.

“What?! Why?! They … they might see that I’m not dead and compromise the entire mission,” exclaimed a shocked Hiccup.

“Wear this,” Thane replied, holding out a black hooded cloak. Answering Hiccup’s sceptical look, he continued. “This will protect your identity and it is enchanted so it won’t come off. Terry calls it the ‘Inviso-cloak’, considering that it could render you hidden in plain sight if you wished.”

Hiccup still seemed reluctant to take the cloak. Though Thane may be the emotionless and intimidating leader, he has been Hiccup’s closest friends and allies. Also, he isn’t one to give up easily.

“Hiccup, you haven’t been here in eight years. You deserve to see everyone again,” Thane said, tempting Hiccup into accepting the cloak.

Hiccup reluctantly took the cloak and put it on as he walked out of the cove, pulling the hood over his head. Walking past Catherine’s guard point, he turned and walked all the way to the village.

‘ _Well, here goes nothing,’_ Hiccup thought as he stepped out of the tree line and into the village that is Berk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now. Again, feel free to let me know your thoughts up to this points, as well as any suggestions and whatnot. I think I'll stick with uploading this on every third day while I've still got chapters to run through. So, I'll see you then.


	3. Reunions of a Different Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup ventures into Berk to see what he can see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those who have given the story a kudos. When I uploaded the last chapter on FanFiction, there were quite a few questions as to where Toothless was and why Hiccup wasn't the group leader. If you have those queries, all in due time. Another had asked why I left them on a cliffhanger. Simple, I did because I can, and also because that's what Incinerator1 did. Onwards!

**_Village of Berk, Early Afternoon._ **

‘ _Well, here goes nothing,’_ Hiccup thought as he steps out of the forest and into Berk, making sure the hood of the ‘Inviso-cloak’ was over his head.

From his perspective, the village was relatively the same. Eight years had passed yet, the way that everything looked, it could’ve been only yesterday that he left. The houses, buildings, grass, even the birds and people, seemingly the exact same. As he made his way further into the village, he could identify almost everyone he went past. The only ones he couldn’t were the young children that were only babes when he left, or were born after he left. Nearly everyone gave a brief glance to the stranger before turning back to their tasks, unconcerned by the presently unknown person. They believed him to be a merchant or something of the like, regardless that there were no new ships in the port.

Suddenly, a small group consisting of three guys and a girl push past Hiccup, almost knocking him over. Without stopping to check on him, they ran off snickering and giggling. Regaining his balance, Hiccup realized as he watched their fleeing figures that they were _the_ guys, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Fishlegs had grown larger … in both ways. His hair was worn longer, the left side in a braid, and facial hair was starting to show in a thistly beard covering most of his lower face. His small horned helmet had been replaced with a helmet with small, metal wings on top. Also, his large fur vest now consisted of different types of fur, the lighter patches contrasting nicely against each other.

The twins had grown more pronounced, though they were still quite skinny. Tuffnut’s light tunic was exchanged for a furry tunic with a leather shoulder pad, his hair now collected in extremely long dreadlocks. Ruffnut’s leather tunic had been changed for a yellow, woolly equivalent, her hair extended longer with a few more braids. Both still held their mischievous looks, both sharper and somehow more mischievous.

Snotlout had changed a bit, he somehow looked more smug than ever with a bit more muscle gained. A small moustache had started to grow his hair was slicker, holding down rather than spreading out. He wore a turquoise scaled shirt with a fur cloak covering his shoulders.

Hearing a commotion coming from a nearby house, Hiccup spun around to see a large Viking stagger out, sputtering and coughing before shouting. Hiccup deduced that the guys must’ve placed a stink bomb in the house.

His expression becomes thoughtful as he notices something that he didn’t before.

‘ _Huh, that’s strange. Where’s Astr-_ ‘he thought before his train of thought was broken when a blonde blur slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

“Ugh,” he groans as he lies on the ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sir. Are you alright?” the blonde female quickly asks, concerned.

“Uh … yeah, I’m fine,” Hiccup says as he sits upright.

Reaching up and grabbing the hand offered to him by the woman, he looks up and sees the most beautiful sight in the world, Astrid. When she helps him up to his feet, he couldn’t help but stare at the love of his life.

Astrid was still as beautiful as ever. She now chose to wear a red shirt, a fur hood and new shoulder pads protecting her upper half. Her skirt now had a lot more fur, the spikes going from an irony grey to an onyx black, along with the skull belt around her waist. Her wrists also had fur covers where her arm wraps used to be.

“Oh good,” she says, relieved. “I’m really sorry that I bumped into … Wait! Have we met before?” she asks, her tone becoming questioning quickly, snapping Hiccup out of his trance.

“Uhh … er … N-No, I d-don’t believe w-we have,” Hiccup stutters, afraid that Astrid will find out his identity.

‘ _Gods damn it! Eight years and I still can’t talk to Astrid without stuttering,’_ Hiccup silently curses.

“I have the strangest feeling that we have met before,” Astrid says, sceptical. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

“Um … y-yeah, I’m sure. Oh, l-look at the time. I’ve g-got … uh … to run,” Hiccup said quickly, eager to get away as quickly as possible, before rushing off without giving Astrid a chance to press further.

‘ _Huh … strange. Who was that guy?’_ Astrid thought as she watches Hiccup run off. _‘Why does he remind me of someone?’_

“Astrid, you better run!” Ruffnut calls out. “Old Man Mendell and his wife are closing in!”

Astrid turns to the recently stunk out house and sees the previously coughing Viking and a woman next to him focus their attention on her, marching towards her.

“Oh, shoot,” Astrid says as she bolts off, the encounter with the cloaked man fully embedding itself in her mind for further pondering.

* * *

‘ _Whew … that was close. Thank Odin the cloak doesn’t come off, otherwise we would’ve been doomed,’_ Hiccup thinks as he sighs in relief, taking a final glance to see Astrid running off behind the buildings in the distance.

‘ _It’s too bad that I can’t talk to Astrid, even like this … Wait! Maybe I can …’_

As Hiccup ponders his new idea, he loses focus of his surroundings and runs straight into another strange reunion, this time walking into his father.

“Whoa there, son,” Stoick says as Hiccup bumps into him, sounding cheerful but with a sad smile on his face.

“Oops, sorry da- *clears throat* … I mean … Stoick,” Hiccup said, almost forgetting to use his father’s name. It was always awkward for Hiccup to call his dad Stoick.

When Hiccup looked up, he instantly saw just how much his father had changed. Build-wise, he hadn’t changed a bit. Feature-wise though, the wrinkles on his face had grown more bountiful, and though his hair and beard still carried their red tone, they had greyed with time. He still had the loving fatherly look in his eyes, but there were large bags underneath them and his sadness could be clearly sensed from him, even beneath his cheerful attitude.

“Now, where are ya’ heading off to in such a hurry?” Stoick asked, Hiccup struggling to find an appropriate answer.

“I was … uh … looking for … the … um … forge! I … heard that the … um … weapons are of high quality, and I was … hoping to buy some.”

‘ _I really hope he buys that,’_ Hiccup prays desperately.

“Hmm … well, the forge is over there,” Stoick says, pointing behind him to the left. “When you get there, ask for Gobber. He’ll set you up.”

“Ok, I will. Thanks, Chief,” Hiccup says, hastily running off towards the direction that his father pointed.

“Wait! I didn’t catch your name,” Stoick calls out before Hiccup can disappear.

‘ _Oh no! What do I say?!’_ Hiccup thought, panicking.

Without thinking twice, Hiccup said the first name that came to his mind.

“Uh … my name’s … uh … Thane. Thane Nightson.”

“Well, Thane, I hope you find the right weapon for you,” Stoick says as he walks away slowly, leaving Hiccup to his business.

As Hiccup ran off, deciding not to visit Gobber in case his cover is blown, desperate to avoid another awkward encounter, he didn’t notice the thoughtful expression on Stoick’s face, nor the notion that wouldn’t be shaken from the chief’s mind.

‘ _I wonder … that man, why does he remind me of someone?’_ pondered Stoick.

* * *

**_The Cove, Early Evening._ **

After spending the rest of the day strolling around the village, along with some more unavoidable awkward encounters, Hiccup managed to sneak back unnoticed by the Vikings to the cove. In his absence, the camp has been set up. Eight tents line the camp, each for a specific dragon breed. The camp was set into two rows with the fire pit in the centre. On the left side were the tents for Terry the Terrible Terror, Bomber the Gronckle, Draco the Nightmare, and the Night Fury Catherine. On the right were the tents for the Zippleback Spitshot and Spitfire, Natalie the Nadder, and Thane the Night Fury. In the middle of the camp, just outside the fire pit, was Hiccup’s tent. It served as his sleeping quarters and the tactical room.

Each tent had their individual designs significant to the species. For the Terror, a Terrible Terror is curled up in a ball, sleeping. The Gronckle tent had a Gronckle crushing a tree with its bludgeon-like tail. The Nightmare’s showed an ignited Nightmare, whilst the Zippleback had the two heads, one on each side of the tent, lighting up the gas, the resulting explosion covering the tent flaps. The Nadder’s design was the spikes all over the Nadder’s tail. As for the Night Furies, they all showed a Night Fury in full stretch, soaring through the air.

As Hiccup approached the centre, he noticed everyone else sitting around the fire pit, a large wild boar roasting over a smokeless blue flame that flickered mystically.

“You know this would taste better if we had some rosemary,” Bomber complained as he sprinkles some spices over the boar, turning it slowly.

“Well I’m sorry, but we aren’t all culinary geniuses like you, Bomber,” snapped an irritated Natalie.

“Sorry, I’m just saying,” Bomber replied, placing one hand up apologetically.

“Hey, look. Brother Hiccup is back!” Terry cried out in joy as he notices Hiccup, before running up to hug him.

“Hey, Terry,” said Hiccup, smiling warmly as he crouches down to embrace Terry.

“You’ve been gone for hours, Hiccup,” Spitshot observed.

“Yeah, where have you been?” Spitfire inquires.

“Let’s just say that I’ve been strolling down memory lane,” answered Hiccup with a smile.

“Why does he always have to speak in riddles?” Spitshot asked, irritated.

“I hope memory lane made you hungry, because we’re having roast boar for dinner,” Bomber declared, revealing the finished boar.

“I’m famished,” replied Hiccup, a hand over his grumbling stomach.

* * *

**_Late Night, The Cove._ **

After dinner, everyone immediately went to their tents, preparing for sleep. Everyone that is, except for Hiccup. He waited a couple of hours, making sure that everyone is asleep, before pulling the ‘Inviso-cloak’ around him and sneaking out of the cove, walking towards the village with his immense stealth prowess (yes I meant to type that). Unknown to him, someone already knew of his plan and was watching him sneak away from the shadows.

Hiccup carefully walked into the village and, after checking to make sure no one was around, climbed up the side of Astrid’s house and peeped through her window. Astrid was tossing and turning in her bed, tears streaming down her face and mumbling Hiccup’s name.

‘ _Good, she’s dreaming. Now’s the perfect time,’_ Hiccup thinks as he gazes lovingly at the beautiful girl.

“HICCUP!” she cries, suddenly waking up from her nightmare and sitting straight up. Her tear filled eyes scoured the room, hoping without hope for a sign that the youth is there.

Hiccup had rapidly drawn his head away from the window and pressed himself flat against the roof. When Astrid lies back down and falls fearfully into sleep again, Hiccup jumps silently through her window and into her room. He then rolls up his sleeve, revealing a Night Fury tattoo wrapped around his arm. He then proceeds to whisperingly chant a spell in ancient Dragonese.

“ _We formed a bond long ago,_

_To form unto one body and soul alone._

_Now I call upon to me,_

_The dragon that rests within me._

_TOOTHLESS!”_

As Toothless’ name was spoken, a white mist spewed forth from his arm, covering and swirling mystically around it. The Night Fury tattoo glows, partly dispersing the mist surrounding it and revealing a miniscule Night Fury sitting in Hiccup’s palm.

“ _Hello, Toothless,”_ Hiccup whispers in Dragonese to the Night Fury.

“ _Hey there, Hiccup! What do you need me for?”_ Toothless asks, giving his signature gummy smile.

“ _Is it possible for you to put me in her dreams?”_ Hiccup asks, gesturing the hand Toothless is residing on towards Astrid.

“ _Ooh, trying to get some time alone with the girl, eh Hiccup?”_ Toothless teases, somehow smiling wider than he was already and a sly look in his eyes.

“ _Just … can you do it or not?”_ Hiccup asks, blushing slightly at the thought of Toothless’ remark.

“ _Of course I can, Hiccup,”_ Toothless replies, proceeding to chanting an ancient Dragonese spell.

The white mist surrounds Hiccup, morphing him into becoming one with the mist. The veil then drifted over Astrid, who subconsciously inhaled it without noticing.

* * *

**_Astrid’s Dream._ **

Astrid’s mind was blank, waiting for the seemingly endless torture to continue. It had been so long since she had been able to have a peaceful dream with Hiccup in it. So when she was transported to a fog filled cove in the middle of a forest, you can imagine her surprise.

“Hello?!” she calls out, afraid that this peaceful scenario could just be another trap, trying to sense her into a false sense of security.

“No one’s here, Astrid,” spoke a soft voice behind her. “It’s just you and me.”

Astrid spun around, only to find a figure sitting atop a boulder, still shrouded partly by the mist. She could make out the lean figure, the messy hair on top of his head and the blood red sword hanging from his hip, but no identifiable features could be seen.

“Who are you?” Astrid asks, reaching for her axe before noticing that it wasn’t with her.

“Come on, Astrid. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already,” said the male as the fogs dissipated around him, revealing the brown mop of hair on top and the enchanting forest green eyes. He gave her a lop-sided grin, prompting a sharp recognition from Astrid.

“Hiccup?!” asked a shocked Astrid, half expecting something to leap out of nowhere and strike him down.

“The one and only,” he replied, jumping off the boulder and landing on the soft ground, spinning in a circle with his arms outstretched.

“Hiccup!” she cried, running towards him with tears of joy springing forth. She engulfed him in a huge bear hug before pulling out and giving him a powerful punch in the arm.

“Ow!” Hiccup shouted, rubbing the spot with his hand.

“That’s for leaving,” Astrid explained angrily, glaring at him.

“That hu-” Hiccup couldn’t finish because Astrid grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him into her, pressing her lips against him and engaging in a deep kiss.

“And that’s for … everything else,” a bright red Astrid said as she pulled out.

Hiccup was stunned, before his expression changed to dreamy and then he began laughed, unable to contain his happiness. This prompted Astrid to laugh as well, the vocalisation becoming contagious.

“Hiccup, where have you been?” Astrid asked, wiping tear from her eye. “Everyone missed you.” Leaning into Hiccup’s chest and being held in his loving embrace, she whispered “I-I missed you.”

“I’ve been busy,” Hiccup replied, determined not to give anything away, even to the beautiful Valkyrie before him.

Hiccup and Astrid regaled what had happened since Hiccup’s disappearance, lying against the boulder with the occasional punch or kiss thrown in. No matter how hard Astrid tried to press the matter, Hiccup would not give in, avoiding it every time by answering, “I’ve been busy.”

After several minutes, Toothless appeared on Hiccup’s hand, which Hiccup placed behind his back so Astrid wouldn’t notice. He subtly leaned out a bit so he could speak to the Night Fury, Astrid reacting to the movement by changing the position she was lying against Hiccup.

“ _Hiccup, I can’t hold the spell for much longer. We’re going to have to leave now or else we won’t be able to get out,”_ Toothless says, straining concernedly.

“ _Alright. Just let me say goodbye,”_ Hiccup whispers, rising up slowly. Astrid falls off him and looks up, confused.

“Well, Astrid, it looks like my time here is up,” Hiccup said sadly.

“What?! B-But you only just got here,” an increasingly saddened Astrid says.

“I’m sorry, Astrid, but I have to go,” Hiccup says, turning and slowly walking away as the white mist creeps back into the cove, engulfing the duo.

“Wait! Will I ever see you again?!” Astrid cries, pawning slightly at the space that Hiccup once was, the mist slowly swallowing the pair up.

“Soon, Astrid, I promise. And don’t forget, I will always be close to you,” Hiccup answers, turning around and giving Astrid a sad, lop-sided grin as he is enveloped in the mist.

“Hiccup! Wait!” Astrid cries, holding an outstretched hand in the direction that Hiccup disappeared to. “Hiccup!”

* * *

**_Late Night, Village of Berk._ **

“HICCUP!” Astrid shouts as she shoots forward again for the second time that night. Again she searched her room for the youth, though more intensely than ever this time, again having no success.

“Just another dream,” she sighs as she lays her head back down on her bed. Her expression was one of joy, sadness and confusion at the same time as she places her hand lightly against her lips, feeling as if she could still feel Hiccup’s lips against hers.

‘ _But then, why did it seem so real?_ ’ she wonders as she drifts of into a rare dreamless slumber.

Had she just looked out of her window, she would’ve seen a cloaked man looking at her and smiling.

As Hiccup walked away from the village, making his way back to the camp, he senses a presence behind him due to his enhanced Night Fury abilities.

“Hiccup,” a female voice says behind him, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “You shouldn’t be out here at night.”

Hiccup spins around with lightning reflexes, swiftly drawing Liferend forth from his waist and pointing it towards the shadows, only to find it aimed at an extremely annoyed Catherine when she steps into the moonlight.

“Uh … Hi, Cat,” Hiccup says feebly, sheathing _Liferend_ back on his hip. He quickly learnt that not only did Catherine see what just transpired, but that she had been following him from the beginning.

“Hiccup, what do you think you were doing? You could’ve compromised our cover!” scolded a pissed off Catherine.

“Sorry, Cat. I just couldn’t stay away,” Hiccup replied, feeling extremely apologetic.

Catherine’s expression softened upon his apology, knowing that he meant every word.

“Fine then, Hic. I could never stay mad at you,” she says softly as she saunters up to him, before bringing him into a quick yet meaningful kiss.

“If this is punishment, I should’ve done this more often,” Hiccup says as they pulled out, his childhood sarcasm switched back on.

“Shut up!” Cat replies, giving him a playful push and smiling warmly at him, which he returns with his own signature grin. “Come on, let’s get back to camp. Thane said he had an emergency.”

They both make their way back to camp together, unaware of the grave news awaiting them.

* * *

**_Over the Ocean. 9 Days Flight from Berk._ **

Flying over the raging waters, 9 days out from Berk, is a large mass of dragons, consisting of many varieties. The main peculiarity, they were all tainted black. Regardless of the menacing presence of such strange, bountiful dragons, they couldn’t compare to the fearful aura emanating from the centre of the flock. Flying in the centre was a gargantuan dragon, similar to the one Hiccup fought all those years ago. This time, instead of being red, it was coloured storm grey and pitch black. The massive dragon had two others next to it, one on either side. One was a large Nightmare, looking like any other apart from the blackness covering it. If you could see the fire spewed forth from this dragon, it would be pitch black instead of intense red, capable of burning down all in sight. The other was a Night Fury, black like the other dragons around it. It looked almost like Thane’s dragon form, just not as heavily scarred and with the silver scar covering his left eye, not his right.

“ _Master Death, we are nearing Dragon Island,”_ hissed the Nightmare, obviously, in Dragonese.

“ _Good. I want to get revenge on the incessant Dragonborn that slew my sister, Red Death,”_ growled the black monstrosity.

“ _Malthazar, have you heard back from the scout, yet?”_ the giant dragon snarled to the Night Fury.

“ _Not yet. I assume he is still searching for the stone,”_ replied the Night Fury, Malthazar, devoid of emotion.

“ _Do not assume, Malthazar. Only be sure,”_ lectured the gargantuan dragon.

“ _Of course, My Lord,”_ he replied.

“ _You really must be more assured, Mal,”_ the Nightmare taunts, “ _or has your incompetence finally caught up with you?”_

“ _Keep your mouth shut, Draki, before I pull it out myself,”_ Malthazar threatened to the Nightmare.

‘ _Children,’_ thought the black monstrosity as the swarm of dragons fly towards Helheim’s Gate. ‘ _Finally, I can have my revenge and power. THE BLACK DEATH WILL RULE AGAIN!’_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger, with more questions than answers. I think you can start spotting a pattern emerging. 
> 
> The usual, comments if you've got them. All are welcome. See you in three days.


	4. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dragonborn start to act as Berk settles in for an awakening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the new kudos. Don't have much else to say. Onwards!

**_Forests, Berk, Late Night._ **

Catherine and Hiccup walk back to the camp together, both talking happily with each other while they teasingly pushed and shoved each other. Cat would cling on to Hiccup’s arm and lean into him from time to time, placing her head on his shoulder before straightening and giving a playful prod. Hiccup seemed relatively unconcerned by the actions, joining in and flashing her his lopsided grin. She returned it with a sweet, loving smile, her eyes shining as she gazed at Hiccup, losing herself in him.

‘ _No, of course I can’t stay mad at him,’_ Cat thinks, entranced. ‘ _I can’t, unless he does something that kills him. Then I won’t be able to forgive him.’_

She turns her head away for a second, concealing the sad look her face took as the thought came to her, before returning her gaze to Hiccup, who was looking straight ahead.

‘ _Always something stupid or crazy, that’s his way,’_ she marked. ‘ _But that’s what makes him Hiccup, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s incredibly kind … oh, who am I kidding? He’s perfect!’_

The corners of her lips tweaked upwards at the thought, her train of thought continuing.

‘ _But he’s back on Berk and I’m worried now. They shunned him out, every single one. I feel like they’ll step all over him again if they find out it’s him and I can’t bear that. Not again … And Astrid. I can see that he still has feelings for her. What about me, Hic? What about the time we spent together? Would you go back to her so quickly? I can’t give up on hope … but I don’t know what to do …’_

Hiccup looks down at her and realises that she has been staring at him for a bit, her face showing faint signs of many emotions. He begins to feel worried, thinking she is concerned about something.

“Cat?” he asks, breaking her out of her labyrinth of thoughts. She blinks her eyes, shaking her head to bring herself back before replying.

“Yes, Hic?”

“Are you ok? You seemed concerned about something?”

“No, Hic. I’m fine,” she lies, giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Though it’s sweet that you care,” she adds as she pulls back, smiling sweetly. Hiccup gave her another of his signature grins, before looking ahead again, not noticing the slight blush on Cat’s cheeks or the sparkle in her eyes.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream reaches their ears, turning their attention to the direction of the camp. Instinctively, they ran as fast as they could towards the cove.

* * *

**_The Cove, Dragonborn Camp, Late Night._ **

Upon entering the camp, they deduce the scream had come from Thane’s tent, as freaked out noises still came from inside. When they burst into the tent, they were both surprised and embarrassed to find what was inside.

Now here’s the thing. Thane has lead armies, fought many wars, conquered and destroyed many of the strongest fortresses, coming out with a few new scars and teeth from foes. Yet despite all his strength, training, bravery, intelligence and powers, there was one thing that remained undefeatable to him. His single bane is arachnophobia, otherwise known as his fear of spiders.

“AHHH! GET IT OUT OF HERE! IT’S COMING AFTER ME!” shouts Thane as he struggles to avoid a jumping wolf spider. He keeps backing away fearfully as it approaches closer and closer.

“Thane … it’s just a spider …” Hiccup said, shaking his head embarrassingly at the veteran’s reaction.

“It’s a spider! A spawn of EVIL! GET IT AWAY!” Thane yells as he clambers back.

“Honestly, brother,” Catherine sighs, grabbing the spider by one of its legs and holding it away from him. “I can’t believe you still haven’t gotten over your arachnophobia.”

“Don’t blame me,” he replies, breathing quickly as Cat walked outside and put the spider down a bit outside the tent, the spider scurrying away. “I still have nightmares of the Spider Queen.”

At his mention of the Spider Queen, Thane shudders, still traumatized by his experience long ago.

“Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad,” Hiccup says, attempting to calm down Thane.

“You try saying that when the Queen of Spiders and all ugliness tries to make you be her king,” Thane replied, hand on his chest as his breaths got deeper and deeper. The fear in his voice showed his trauma over what went down, but that is another story.

“Enough, Thane,” Catherine says as she re-enters the tent. “You said you had an emergency.”

Thane took one last deep breath before falling back into his steely composure.

“Ok, to start off, Draco, being the pompous one we all know and love,” he began, recalling the reason he called for them and rolling his eyes at the last part in good nature, “tried to impress Natalie by getting the ‘Catch of the Day’. While he was in the forest, he was attacked.”

Both Cat and Hiccup struggled to contain their surprise and shock at this news.

“Draco was attacked?!” Natalie said, the shock in her voice. “By what?!”

“This,” Thane said simply, grabbing a cage hanging from a pole and putting it down on the centre table. Inside was a Terrible Terror, its scales pitch black and eyes blood red, gnawing and slashing at the bars in an attempt to break free.

“No …” Hiccup said, eyes going wide, “… that’s one of Black Death’s scouts.”

“Wait … if that’s one of Black Death’s …” Cat speaks slowly, gasping afterwards, “What about Draco?!”

“Don’t worry. Draco managed to catch it without being bitten,” Thane reassured, Cat sighing from the instant relief. “Although, this Terror being here poses an even greater problem. If Death knows of the village, then we will need to ask the Vikings for help.”

“What?!” shouts Hiccup.

“No, we can’t!” Cat shouts, slamming her hands on the table as her previous thoughts springing back to mind. ‘ _They can’t know that Hiccup’s here.’_

“Well if you have an alternative, then by all means present it,” Thane offers. When Cat struggles to give another option, Thane softens.

“I know, we originally planned to do this quietly, but we are running out of time to prepare and I can only estimate eight or nine days before Death arrives.”

“So we have just over a week to convince a village of dragon slayers to help us, a group of half-dragons, fight what could easily kill us all, while keeping our lives and identities a secret?” Cat asks, still shook up.

“Pretty much, sis,” Thane answers, eying his sister curiously while wary of her freaking out now. ‘ _She normally doesn’t get this shaken by these sorts of things. What could it be?’_

“Damn it,” Hiccup and Catherine cursed simultaneously, wary of the days to come.

(Line Break)

_Berk, Mid-morning, Guard Tower Four._

Sitting a bit outside the village of Berk was a tall watchtower to keep an eye out for any incoming dragons. It was built under Stoick’s orders a few years after Hiccup’s triumph to appease the dragon paranoid Vikings living there. Sitting atop the tower on shift were two very bored, very sleepy guards sitting and lounging around on the chairs provided. One of the guards was drifting into sleep, but before he could enter his dreamland a powerful wind vortex sucked him of his seat. The other guard yelled at him to signal the village as they both saw seven dragons fly out of the forest and towards the heart of Berk.

* * *

**_Village of Berk, Mid-morning, Town Square._ **

The villagers were in a frantic panicky rush to set up their defences. As soon as Stoick got the signal that dragons were approaching, he called the whole village to action, getting the armoury open and Gobber back in the forge to fix and sharpen weapons.

“HECTOR, HERD THE LIVESTOCK BACK INTO THE BARNS! HELGA, GET THE CHILDREN BACK TO THEIR ROOMS! MENDALL, HELP BERT LOAD THE CATAPULTS!” Stoick ordered as he rushed around to get the village ready, his bellowing reaching out to all corners of the island.

He then paused and looked up to the sky along with everyone else as a roar sounded out from above. Each and every Viking saw a seven dragon V-formation slice through the air with pure speed.

“What can we do to help?” Astrid asked the chief, gesturing to Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout.

“All of you, grab a weapon and get re-” Stoick wasn’t able to finish as the roars of several dragons cut his order short. The gang still followed through with his wishes, each grabbing their favourite weapons.

“DRAGONS!” Stoick bellowed, all Vikings gathering together in the village’s centre to form a defensive line as the dragons descended to the ground.

The dragons merged into a spiral, getting lower and lower. Each was feeling just as tense as each other, apart from Draco who was near freaking out.

“ _Uhh … Hiccup?”_ Draco said warily, getting the attention of the navigator.

“ _Yeah, Draco?”_ Hiccup asked, keeping an eye out for any projectiles.

“ _I think one of them threw a spear at me …”_

Just as that was said, a spear flew past Draco, narrowly missing his left wing. Draco screamed in response, though to the Vikings it sounded like a menacing roar.

“ _They’re attacking, Hiccup!”_ Spitshot cried out, his head colliding with his sister’s as he avoided an arrow.

“ _We can see that!”_ snapped Bomber, using his tail to knock a spear shaft out of the air.

“ _Just keep going. Once we’re near enough, we can block each other with firewalls,”_ Hiccup commanded, trying to calm everyone down.

No matter how much the Vikings tried to shoot and spear the dragons down, they were able to land physically unscathed. First Bomber the Gronckle and the twins Zippleback landed, with Terry the Terror riding on Bomber. They hissed and fired their shots at the Vikings, making sure to aim at their feet. Terry joined in with a few fireballs as well, the combined blasts edging the lines back. Soon after, the Nadder Natalie and the Nightmare Draco touched down, Draco flaring himself up and Natalie shooting her tail spines through the flames. The result came in the form of poisonous flaming Nadder spines embedding themselves in the ground, further pushing the Vikings back. Finally, the three Night Furies, Thane, Catherine and Hiccup, fired one plasma shot each, the combined force creating a shockwave that threw them to the ground and bringing up a smoke wall, blanketing the dragons. Three pairs of eyes pierced the smoke, followed by the rest of the Night Furies. They walked slowly out into the view of all in sight.

The Vikings were left surprised and intrigued. This was the first time a Night Fury had dared to show itself to the whole village, only Hiccup having the first true sighting. The other dragons parted to let the Night Furies through, proving to the Vikings that they harboured just as much respect amongst the dragons as they feared them. Most of the crowd were tempted to run out and slay one of the beasts, though they were held in place by the fear of being incinerated by intense dragonfire, leaving them content to just standing and watching.

Soon Stoick the Vast strode forward, engaging the lead Night Fury, the one with the artificial tailfin, in a stare down. Neither one broke eye contact as everyone around them stood quiet and watched.

“Well, _dragon,_ looks like you’ve gotten way over your head,” Stoick said, signalling the archers to load and aim at the dragons.

“What are you going to do now, eh dragon?” Stoick challenged, daring him to strike.

No one moved a muscle, waiting for some kind of reaction. When one came, all the Vikings were thrown out of whack.

“Nothing,” the Night Fury replied in perfect Norse.

This finally broke Stoick’s … well … stoic composure, forcing him and the rest of the village to take a double take, not fully believing what they heard.

“Di-Did that dragon just speak?” Stoick asked bewildered, finally thinking he had gone crazy.

“I think so,” Gobber replied, “unless the whole village has gone barking mad.”

“If you are all wondering, yes, we did speak, and no, you’re not crazy,” the Nadder said, fixing her gaze on Gobber.

“Oh … alrighty then,” Gobber replied, casually walking away and whistling.

“So … could all your kind speak?” asked a flabbergasted Astrid, her axe hanging loosely from her hands.

“Let me get back to you on that after we … _change …_ into something less menacing,” the front Night Fury, the one missing a tailfin, said.

Each dragon surrounded themselves with an intense wall of fire, each dragon with their flames a different colour. As the fire dispersed, standing in the place of the dragons were nine men and women, strangely clothed and looking to the Vikings, except for the centre one who was wearing a hooded cloak and couldn’t be discerned.

The Vikings were shocked beyond belief, to the point that one dropped his weapons and leapt into the arms of his wife.

“W-W … What are you?” Stoick asked, unable to believe what was happening right in front of his eyes.

“We are the Dragonborn, sons and daughters of men and dragons, riders who have managed to master the powers of dragons and magic,” the nine replied, their different voices merging together as they spoke in unison.

“Riders?!” Stoick asked, his voice failing him as whispers began spreading from the crowd behind him.

“Yes, people who have managed to successfully tame and bond with a dragon,” the buzzed giant, Bomber, replied.

“DEMONS!” shouted Spitelout, hurling an axe from the crowd at the heavily scarred man, Thane.

Thane, instead of dropping to the ground with an axe lodged in his head, caught the axe inches away from his face, making Spitelout’s mouth drop.

“Yeah, we get called that a lot,” Thane replied as he proceeded to crush the axe into a small metal box.

All the Vikings’ mouths dropped to the floor this time. Never have they seen a man possess such strength in their lives, nevertheless one who could do that without any effort whatsoever.

“Now then, all courtesies aside,” Thane said, tossing the harmless cube behind him, “we didn’t come here to fight. We came here to help.”

“Help?” asked a Viking within the throng. “With what?”

“This,” the elegant woman, Catherine, said, tossing forward the cage containing the controlled, tainted Terrible Terror, causing the Vikings to step back and some to reclasp their weapons.

“What in the name of Odin is that creature?” Gobber asked.

“That, my Viking friends, is a spawn of evil,” answered the hooded man, Hiccup. “A dragon, once free, now infected with the mind and will of a beast we call … the Black Death.”

“The Black Death?” Stoick asked, concerned.

“Yes. A dragon the size of a mountain, the power of a thousand storms and a plague of Black magic surrounding it and its forces, causing the infections and deaths of thousands upon thousands,” Thane said. “In short, a dragon the likes of which you have never seen.”

“And why would we need your help to defeat it, eh?” asked a grizzly old man, leaning on an old staff and with a grey frizzy beard, stepping forward from the throng.

“Not now, Mildew. There’s a crisis going on,” Stoick sighed, annoyed that he had to show up now.

‘ _Odin’s beard! This guy is still alive,’_ thought a not very overjoyed Hiccup.

“Crisis my baggy eyes. These men aren’t even human!” Mildew cried, thrusting his staff in the direction of the Dragonborn. “How can we even trust that this ‘so called’ _Black Death_ is coming here?” he asked, causing murmuring agreements from the Vikings.

“I mean, this … _dragon_ … could’ve already been born this way. And besides, how do we know that these _people_ haven’t just poisoned this one, just to trick us into letting them live?” he argued. “They could even be trying to exterminate all Viking villages, using the same story each time.”

By now he had convinced most of the village, which seemed ready to pounce on the Dragonborn and drive them away from Berk.

“So, as a citizen of Berk, I say that we kill these liars and defend ourselves as Vikings of Berk!”

At the last word, nearly all the Vikings picked up there weapons and threw them haphazardly at the nine.

“Uh … Boss? They’re throwing stuff,” Spitshot said as she backed up with the rest of them, all of them having to dodge the occasional weapon that would’ve hit its mark.

“I know,” Hiccup said, “but we mustn’t attack them. It will only provoke-”

“HICCUP!” Catherine cries as an axe flew towards his head, unnoticed by the youth.

‘ _No! Not now!’_ she thought desperately. ‘ _Please not now!’_

The axe managed to miss Hiccup, the male pulling his head out of the way with split-second reflexes. Stoick, upon hearing his son’s name, immediately called for the village to stop attacking.

“STOP!” he bellowed, all Vikings freezing in their tracks, some in mid throw. Those that were had their weapons fall limply to the ground.

Stoick slowly walked up to the hooded man, the hope of his sons return rekindled in the depths of his eyes. Catherine had a hand over her chest, breathing deeply in order to calm herself.

“Son?” Stoick asked hoarsely to the man.

The hooded man hesitated, glancing at Thane. At Thane’s small nod, he pulled back his hood, revealing the grown up Hiccup. Every single Viking gasped in amazement, Astrid covering her mouth with her hand and trying incredibly hard not to cry, her axe clattering uselessly to the ground.

“Uh … h-hey, dad,” Hiccup said nervously, not sure how everyone will react. “How’s the last eight years been?”

Stoick just stared at his son for a bit. No one could anticipate just how he would react. Would he cry? Would he yell? Would he push him aside?

What he did gave the people one more thing to add to the list of wonders for today. For the first time in eight years, Stoick laughed. It wasn’t forced or anything, it was a true hearty, wholesome laugh.

“HAHAHAHAHA! How’s it been?” he repeated. “How’s it been?! It’s been terrible. I mean, sure the dragon raids stopped, and all thanks to you. But you … you were gone.”

Stoick then walked forwards and enveloped Hiccup in a crushing bear hug.

“Dad … I can’t … breathe,” Hiccup gasped, struggling to inhale the necessary air.

“Sorry,” Stoick apologized, releasing Hiccup as he grabbed his chest and took a huge breath of air.

“Look everyone! My son has returned!” he announced. “We shall hold a feast for your return, and you can tell us all what you’ve been up to these last eight years.”

None of the villagers were complaining, they were happy to have any sort of excuse to celebrate and break out the mead.

“Um … sorry, chief,” Cat began, still concerned for Hiccup. “We have to get re-”

She didn’t get to finish as she was interrupted by a warm hand on her hand. Looking around, she sees her brother Thane.

“Never mind, Cat,” he says, noticing the distressed look on her. “Hiccup deserves a celebration.”

Hiccup is led away to the Great Hall by Stoick with a fatherly hand on his shoulder, Gobber hobbling up to join them.

“Besides,” he adds, “I think my little trap on Dragon Island will put Death back a few days.”

* * *

**_Dragon Island, Midday._ **

“ _Where are you, you little ants?!”_ shouts the Black Death as he tore up the side of the volcano on Dragon Island. The pyroclastic rock crumbled and broke away in chunks as his massive claws dig further into the earth.

Then he finally tore away a passage, revealing a small cave held up and supported with ancient stone pillars.

“ _Yes! There you are!”_ said Black Death as he breathes a black wall of fire around him, transforming into his human form.

His human form would give nearly everyone nightmares. He was covered in pitch-black armour, covered in razor sharp spikes from head to toe. His helmet slanted upwards, rising to a sharp point. It was so dark that nothing could be seen inside, not even his eyes (think of the Witch King of Angmar).

“Where are you, ants?” spoke a rasping, reptilian voice emanating from the infinite darkness within the metal.

A door was revealed at the end of the cave, old as time and covered in ancient Dragonese. Black Death chanted a phrase in Dragonese.

“ _Death is only the beginning.”_

He hated that password. Always it reminded him of his past, how annoying it all had been. In recognition of the chant, the door began to glow blue. However, instead of opening, sphere-like orbs fell from the ceiling, landing around Death.

“What is this?” Death asked, picking up one of the orbs.

Once in his hand, he realised that they were all fiery bombs, each marked with a magic fuse. He could sense the tremendous power within, eyes widening as the power flowed all around.

“THANE!” he shouted as all the bomb’s fuses ran out at the same time, engulfing him in an inferno of grey fire.

* * *

**_Great Hall, Midday, Berk._ **

Thane immediately felt his trap take effect, slumping against a pillar and falling to the ground, the ghost of a smile on his face.

“Thane!” cries Catherine as her brother collapses.

“What’s wrong?” she asks as she crouches down, placing an arm under Thane’s shoulder to help him up.

“My trap for Death was sprung,” he answered, weakened, struggling to rise. “That should set him back a few days.”

“Thane, you need time to let your soulfire regenerate,” said a worried Catherine, concerned for her brother’s life.

“Don’t worry, Cat,” he reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder as their combined strength help him get to his feet. “I can handle it.”

Thane slowly made his way over to where Hiccup and the gang were sitting.

* * *

**_Great Hall, Midday, Hiccup’s Old Bench, Berk._ **

Hiccup was constantly peppered with questions, including what he had seen, what new information he had on dragons, who was he traveling with, but mostly what he had been up to for the past eight years. Every time he got asked that question, he responded the same way he did when with Astrid, simply saying, “I’ve been busy.” That was all he would give on the subject … that is, until Astrid asked him.

Astrid managed to pull Hiccup away when the others were distracted by another fight between the two twins. They went over to a secluded corner of the hall, where no one was sitting down, and sat before Astrid started talking.

“Hiccup, we need to talk,” she said, a softer edge to her voice than usual, though giving a look that said she wouldn’t be letting him dodge it this time.

“What do you mean? We already spoke together,” Hiccup replied, getting a discombobulated look from Astrid.

“What? When? Where?” she asked, completely confused. “I would’ve remembered if we did.”

“Dreams sure are pleasant, aren’t they?” Hiccup asked, answering her question with a question.

The realization dawned upon Astrid as she figured out from his clue what he was referring to.

“You were … you were in my dreams, weren’t you?” she asked. “You were actually there?”

“Maybe …” he answered, his boyish grin giving it away.

That soon gave way to a pained expression as Astrid walloped him in the arm.

“OW!” he cried, holding the impact zone that was sure to bruise.

“That was for entering my dreams,” she explained, glaring at him.

Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t as he was met with Astrid pulling him towards her, crashing her lips against his. Hiccup’s shock gave way as he melted into it, holding it there until thy broke apart.

“That was for keeping your promise,” she said, turning away to hide her furious blush. One had settled upon Hiccup as well, his cheeks as red as a tomato.

“So, for sneaking around in my dreams,” Astrid said when she spun around to face Hiccup again, “you have to tell me what you were doing the last eight years. Unless you want more bruises,” she threatened, holding her right fist in a position ready to strike.

“Ok, ok,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender while giving a signature grin. Astrid responded with one of her own smiles, a sweet, caring one, though a slight blush crept up again.

‘ _Gods, I’ve missed him,’_ she thought. ‘ _How I haven’t gone mad yet with him being back is a mystery. Please stay, Hiccup, Please stay here with me after this is all over.’_

“If you must now,” Hiccup said, bringing Astrid back to her senses, “it happened like this …” bringing up the story of how he became a Dragonborn.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger. If you haven't already, best start getting used to these. 
> 
> Same as before, please let me know your thoughts, suggestions, whatnot. Constructive criticism is welcome, yadda, yadda, yadda. 
> 
> See you next time.


	5. Memoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup takes Astrid on a trip down memory lane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. Yes, this was meant to be uploaded yesterday, but was a bit busy. Also out a winning bet on the Melbourne Cup, so all in all a fairly good day. And when I got back I had more things to do. Again, sorry. 
> 
> Thanks for the new kudos and the bookmark. We now return you to your scheduled broadcast. Onwards!

“This is how I became a Dragonborn …” Hiccup said, Astrid leaning in closer.

* * *

**- _Flashback-_**

**_Eight Years Ago_ **

**_Dragon Island, Hidden Room_ **

**_Hiccup’s POV_ **

Searing heat … thundering pain … that’s what initially came to my mind as I struggled to regain consciousness. The looming tail of the Red Death falling through the sky, Toothless and I unable to get away. The memories flooded in my otherwise blank mind. The massive tail bludgeon slammed into us, knocking me clean out of the saddle. My head grew worse as I fell … I could see Toothless roaring in a blind panic as he saw me fall. I could feel the inferno underneath rise up to meet me, seeking to add another life to its deadly blaze. The last thing I saw was Toothless flapping as hard as he could to reach me, as the fiery storm engulfed us. All I could think of before I lost consciousness was that now the dragons were free … and wishing with all my heart that I could’ve seen Astrid again …

… one last time …

Once the memories shut down I snapped awake, sitting up with a start. That was a bad idea, as the pain in my gut punched its way into feeling. Seeing no vengeful flames or mountainous rubble, I laid back down, clutching the pain and pulling the warm, fur blanket closer.

‘ _Wait … blanket? Wasn’t I falling?_ ’

Due to the tremendous throbbing in my head, I couldn’t think straight initially, my head struggling to piece together what happened. I sat up again, much more slowly this time, and took a look at my surroundings.

I was lying down on a bed made of many furs and skins, stacked and placed carefully so that no pressure would be put on my body. Now that I was sitting up, my feeling began to return. All my muscles were aching and groaning, making me slowly roll and rub them to loosen them. The room was of a strange design, it looked like the inside of a mountain. Rocky walls rose up from the cool floor, rounding and curving till it reached the ceiling, a few stalactites dropping down in the corners of the room. Books were scattered all around, either on the floors or lying atop the few tables and cabinets I could see. Filling one side of the room was a platform, weird symbols and a strange circle etched into the stone. A roaring fireplace stood near me lit already by a strangely coloured blue flame, no smoke rising up from the blaze.

Before I could look around any further, I felt something wrong with my body. I could feel the scars, the burns, the gashes I picked up when we danced with death, but this felt stranger. It wasn’t as if something was there that shouldn’t have been … in fact quite the opposite. I couldn’t feel something that I should’ve been able to. My feeling began getting better and better …

‘ _It’s in my lower body … it’s in my legs … it’s one of my legs … it’s the left leg …’_

I slowly pulled the blankets off and looked at my left leg, or rather, where my leg should’ve been. Instead of a foot and a long limb, there was just a slightly burnt, red, terribly scarred stump, cut off halfway between the patella and the ankle. A hand carved wooden prosthetic is placed at the end of the stump, bandages and some sort of contraption hold it in place without harming the leg. My eyes widened in realization.

“It’s gone … my leg is gone …” I said hoarsely.

‘ _How did I not notice?’_ I thought ludicrously. ‘ _Better question, how did I lose my leg?’_

“Good, you’re awake,” came a voice behind me, strong and steady.

I spun around to find a man clothed in black, long jet-black hair reaching his hips, sitting in a chair angled at me. Scars scattered his entire body … all that was visible anyway. In particular was a silver scar cutting through his right eye, said eye and its brother watching me curiously. Two sets of twin swords lay on either side of him.

“Wh-who are you?” I asked timidly, unable to get much strength out of my voice, though I could feel it coming back.

“The man who saved you,” he said simply, before I was ‘attacked’ by a thick, wet object running itself over my cheek.

“TOOTHLESS!” I cry as loud as I can, the dragon knocking me down as he licked me joyously, despite the multitude of protests I put forth.

“Stop bud … Toothless, stop …” I laugh as he continues to assault me, slobbering all over me. “Toothless … Stop!”

Toothless finally stops and looks at me, clearly happy to see me alive and awake.

“I missed you too, bud,” I say warmly, rubbing his snout as he lowers his head.

The scarred man watches on, amusement seemingly ghosting his face, as he watched the scene unfold.

“So, he is the trainer?” he asks Toothless, who replies with a nod of his head. The man then emits a few growls, grunts and hisses, which was met in kind by Toothless, using the same sort of noises. It looked like they were talking to one another, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying if they were speaking.

“What was that?” I ask the man after they were speaking, tilting my head to the side in curiosity.

“Oh, I forgot. You humans can’t understand Dragonese,” he said, just making me even more confused.

“Dragonese?” I said, keeping my head where it was, before I realized what else he said. “Wait, human? Are you saying you’re not human?!”

“Well, to answer your first question, Dragonese is the language of dragons,” the man answered calmly, as if my freaking out was normal. “As for the second … yes and no.”

“Yes and no?” I ask, trying to keep as level a head as possible.

“Yeah … I’m what you could say half human and half dragon,” he replied. “Kinda crazy, eh?”

All I could do was nod, gulping slightly. I felt as if I was dreaming, surely there wasn’t anything that could possibly be half dragon and human. The shock was making my head feel dizzy.

“I must be hallucinating … I swear you just said you were half dragon.”

“You’re not and I did.”

I end up lying back down, holding my head.

“You’re half dragon?” I say, closing my eyes. “Are you for real or am I dreaming?”

“Hmm … perhaps a demonstration is in order …”

I couldn’t see what he was up to, all I could hear was some sort of fire being … exhaled? I could feel the heat radiating from where the man was, but I had no idea what was going on. It sounded similar to a dragon breathing its fire, or the furnace in the forge being stoked. When I opened my eyes, a black scarred Night Fury was looking at me. I jumped out of bed and crawled backwards to Toothless.

“Gaah!” I screamed, breathing quickly.

“Yep, happens every time,” the Night Fury says in perfect Norse, with the exact same voice the man had.

He then breathes out a fierce grey flame, the fire swirling around him creating a fire wall. When the flames die down, the man is standing exactly where the Night Fury was.

“Who and what are you?” I huff, clutching his chest.

“My name is Thane Nightson, and I am what’s known as a Dragonborn,” the man apparently called Thane answers.

“What’s a Dragonborn?” I inquire, still shaken up.

“Sons and daughters of men and dragons, along with Riders who have mastered the powers of magic and dragons,” Thane explained.

“Riders? You mean, like me?” I ask, pointing to myself.

“Yes, and it seems like you have become a very successful one. Your dragon wouldn’t leave your side without trying to bite my hand clean off,” he said, holding up his hand. I could see many gummy marks where he had brought his mouth down, along with a couple of teeth marks.

I look angrily at Toothless, pointing a finger at him as I chided him.

“Toothless! Bad dragon! Very bad dragon!” I said, though Toothless seemed more transfixed by my finger than my words.

‘ _Fine then, if that’s how you want to play …’_

“You don’t go bitting other people. You get no fish for a week,” I threatened.

That got Toothless’ attention, his eyes widening as he gave me a big puppy look, not wanting to bear the punishment. We stared at each other for a minute before I gave in.

“ _Fiiiine_ … I could never stay mad at you, bud,” I said, giving him a hug as he responds to the surrender with a gummy smile.

“Huh … I see why he likes you,” Thane said slightly amused, though not showing it.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’d do without him,” I said, scratching Toothless under his chin.

“Good then, you’re ready.”

“Ready?” I said confused. “Ready for what?”

“Didn’t you tell him, Toothless?” Thane asked, Toothless replies with a gruff grunt.

“Don’t use that language with me,” he said, glaring at the Night Fury.

“What did he need to tell me?” I ask, curious.

“Do you know about the five stages?” he asked, which all I could do in response was give a confused look.

“Ok, when taming and bonding with a dragon, there are five stages you can go to,” he explained. “The first stage is known as First Contact; when you meet your dragon and you start the bond.”

‘ _So, when Toothless roared at me in the forest.’_ I thought, looking back to that day.

“The second stage is called Trusting; when you’ve bonded long enough that he trusts you substantially to let you ride on him,” Thane continued, gesturing to the saddle on Toothless’ back.

“The third stage is Friendship; when you and your dragon trust each other completely and will not leave each other’s side willingly.”

Thane held up his hand again, showing the gum and teeth marks again.

“The fourth stage is the Linking stage; when you link on a spiritual and emotional level. Your dragon is able to tell how you’re feeling, where you are and whether or not you are dead.”

“That explains a lot,” I said, leaning up against Toothless as I gingerly got up on my leg, before testing my prosthetic. It took the weight well, but my stump groaned painfully.

“Be careful on that,” Thane said. “You need to take some time to get used to it.”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied, thinking of Gobber’s stories. “What’s the last stage?”

“The fifth and final stage is called the Full Bond. That’s when you and your dragon become one.”

“One? Like one body?”

“Sort of. You become one in mind, body and spirit,” Thane elaborated. “It’s one of the ways to become a Dragonborn.”

“So I could become a Dragonborn?” I asked, still a bit unsure. “I should be able to become one like you?”

“Since you first bonded with Toothless, you had no other path,” Thane said. “I too had a dragon once, my friend Blackbolt. We reached the final stage and became one. We became Dragonborn. To be honest, it isn’t really that bad being a Dragonborn.”

I nodded slightly. I understood what he was saying, but I had no idea how I should still be feeling. Should I feel happy, sad, excited or scared about becoming half dragon?

“But the last question can only be answered by you. Do you want to become a Dragonborn or not?” Thane asked, looking at me. “Toothless has already said that he wanted to when I asked him.”

I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t decide right away. There was so much that could still happen, so much that I needed to think about. Looking at Thane, I could see he understood the conflict I was feeling.

“I’ll give you a while to think about it. It took Toothless half a day to answer,” he said, walking away.

I walked over to a chair and sat down in it, tapping my prosthetic against the cold, stone floor. I analysed the wooden limb as if I had only just seen it … and truth be told I had.

‘ _Should I really become a Dragonborn? It seems like I should. It looks like it would bring Toothless and I together to a whole new level. Then, nothing would be impossible. But, say I did … what will my dad think? What would everyone else think? Would he kill me for what I’ve done? What about Toothless? But, what about my dad? What about Berk? What about …’_

‘ _What about Astrid?’_

If there was anyone who I would remember from Berk, it would be Astrid. I mean, who wouldn’t? Even though she didn’t stand up for me these last years when Snotlout and the others tormented me, even though we drifted apart from when we were kids, my heart still burned with the desire to be with her, to hold her … to feel her lips against mine. I don’t think I ever will meet anyone else that will strike me the way she has. If I somehow did find someone who could hold a candle to her, they would have to be an angel.

But thinking back on it … I know I can’t return. Not now, not after leaving the way I did. They would kill Toothless as soon as they could and I would struggle to be me if that happened. If Toothless dies, part of me will die with him. I will no longer be whole.

‘ _I guess that’s it then … I know what I will do,’_ I thought, finally making up my mind.

“Thane … I’ve made my decision,” I declared, looking up from my leg and taking a deep breath. No turning back now.

Thane came out of the shadows near one of the cabinets, a really old looking book in his hand. The covers were tattered and looked as if it would fall apart at any minute.

“Well, that was a lot quicker than I anticipated,” he replied, genuinely looking surprised. “What do you decide?”

‘ _This is it …’_

“I … I will become a Dragonborn,” I said, determination fired up in the depths of my eyes.

Toothless’ reaction was to start jumping around in a circle, purring and grunting happily.

“Toothless is pleased with your decision,” Thane translated for my benefit. Thane walked over to me and held out a hand, pulling me up to my feet. “Well let’s start the ritual … Oh, I didn’t get your name.”

“I’m Hiccup,” I replied, “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.”

“Well then, Hiccup,” Thane said, placing a hand around my back to help me walk, “let’s get started.”

‘ _Well this is it … I just wish that I can see Astrid again …’_

‘… _one last time …’_

* * *

**_On the Strange Platform_ **

**_Hiccup’s POV_ **

I was kneeling down in the middle of the circle on the strange platform I saw before. The symbols and what I can only assume to be words in another language etched in and around the circle seem to flicker and weave eerily, like the Dragon Manual back on Berk that night. Toothless sits with me in the circle, while Thane stands a little distance outside, but still on the platform. As he starts to speak, he begins to move around the edge of the ring.

“Now, Hiccup, not many people survive this ritual. This is because of the immense and sometimes overwhelming pressure of having two soulfires inside your body,” Thane warned, getting a frightened and confused look from me.

“Soulfire?” I asked, slightly more scared than I would’ve liked to admit.

“Yes, it is the embodiment and power of your very soul. It represents your life, your emotions, abilities and even your magical potential,” he elaborated. “Each soulfire is unique, representing their own properties, which is why they have many different colours. Like my grey fire.” That brought his grey wall of fire back to my mind.

“This particular ritual combines both your and your dragon’s soulfires together. When this happens, I can guarantee that it will hurt. A _lot,_ ” he added, making me regret making this choice just a little bit.

‘ _Great. Pain … love it,_ ’ I thought, with some amusement.

“But the rewards are worth it,” Thane reassured. “When you and your dragon become one, you will gain some of their traits and characteristics. That includes the transformation, heightened senses and fire breath.” As if to prove this, Thane shot out a powerful blue plasma shot, scorching the ground in a black stain. This brought back my enthusiasm for becoming a Dragonborn.

“Wow …” I say, thunderstruck.

“However, if both souls don’t merge successfully, both of you can die. If one goes, so does the other. And believe me, it ain’t pretty.” This made me fearful again. Just how is he trying to make me feel for this?

“Are you ready?” he asked, looking at the two of us.

I took a few deep breathes, trying to prepare myself for the hell to follow. I take one final breath before I answer.

“I’m ready,” I say slowly and quietly. Toothless nods to say that he is also ready.

“Alright then,” he said. “Let it begin.”

Thane began chanting some strange words that I could not understand, causing the circle and symbols to flicker and glow as if they were on fire. Suddenly, blue fire leapt up from the circle, blazing around us in a fierce inferno. My heart moved and panged when the fire leapt up, feeling as if it is connected with the blaze.

“This is your soulfire,” Thane explained as Toothless and I gazed at it in wonder. “It is blue for harmony.”

‘ _Harmony … I never would’ve thought that my soul would be harmonious …’_ I thought, remembering all the problems I caused for the people back on Berk and how I was treated.

“It’s rare for a fire to be such a pure colour. This must mean you have something important left for you to do,” he observed, making my spirits rise.

‘ _What could it possibly be?’_

“Now … back to the task at hand. I want you to repeat these words after me.”

I nodded in response.

_To form together, both of us shall,_

_To make one body, soul, and meld._

_Now, before my dragon I have knelt,_

_To form a bond unbroken until I have fell._

I began to repeat the lines, careful not to slip or stutter over the words.

“Good, now close your eyes,” Thane said when I had finished.

I did so, hearing Thane chant in some language unknown to me. I couldn’t see what was happening, but if I hadn’t closed my eyes, I would’ve seen a thick white mist creep up, engulfing and surrounding Toothless. When the mists parted slightly, Toothless was transformed into a white mist form of himself. He slowly moved towards me as Thane finished.

“Now take a deep breath,” Thane said to me.

Eyes still closed, I complied to his wishes, taking in a huge … well, as big as I could … breathe of air, also inhaling the mist that made up Toothless. My eyes shot open when his essence was gone, instantly coughing and hacking as the mist passed into me. It felt as if I had swallowed volcanic ash.

Then, it started. Pain struck my entire body like lightning, I felt as if I was burning as the pain spread, starting from my legs all the way to my head. My muscles were on fire as they grew and stretched like they were never designed to do. A sharp pain reached my tailbone as I felt something shoot out of it. Through the pain and suffering, I could see a four-foot dragon tail behind me. I was then brought to my hands and knees as my back exploded. It first felt like someone was ripping my back apart, before two wings sprouted out of my back, folding in as I screamed in pain. But that wasn’t the end of it. The excruciating pain moved to my head as it changed dramatically. I nearly pulled the hair out of my head as my teeth changed to rounded fangs, and dragon ears and earflaps shooting out of the top of my head. I tried to shout out, but instead of my voice, a dragon roar came out. I could then feel my eyes change to slits before I collapsed. Finally … finally, the pain stopped.

Thane walked over to me as he crouched down and shook my shoulder … well, what I felt was my shoulder.

“Hey kid … you alive?” he asked.

“ _Everything hurts like hell,_ ” I barely get out, shaking my head slightly to try and regain my senses. Everything seems strange, as if my senses have changed a lot.

“Well, you survived and are officially a Dragonborn … well, almost.”

Thane held up a mirror for me to see, and I was shocked to find what I was looking at.

Staring back at me in the reflection was me, my body, my face. However, there were indeed a lot of noticeable changes. Looking behind myself, I could see the wings of a Night Fury sticking out my back. Night Fury ears and flaps stuck out of my hair, looking weird, and if I opened my mouth, I could see slightly rounded off fangs, halfway between mine and a dragon’s, which were as sharp as knives. The eyes looked normal, if you didn’t count the slit-like pupils in the centre. But what truly took me by surprise was the four-foot tail coming out from my tailbone. The part that surprised me was that it was missing a tailfin … the left tailfin.

‘ _There’s only one Night Fury I know that’s missing a tailfin … Toothless! Does that mean it worked?’_

There were other differences as well. I felt as if I could lift a boulder with one hand and my senses were definitely enhanced. Through Toothless’ ears I could hear ants crawling on the ground, flies buzzing, even Thane breathing. Looking back at the tailfin, I realised I would have to do something about it, as I knew dragons can’t fly without a full tail or wings.

“ _Are you okay?_ ” Thane asked me in grunts and growls as I was busy admiring myself. To my surprise, I understood it perfectly.

“ _Yeah … just … this is weird,_ ” I replied in the same language I did before. “ _Wait, what am I speaking?”_

“ _You’re speaking Dragonese,”_ Thane said in kind. “ _You won’t be able to speak Norse for a while, but you’ll get used to it. Soon, you will be able to speak both fluently.”_

“ _Oh,_ ” I replied, still feeling a bit strange. I guess that’s normal.

“ _Right now, you are a newborn,_ ” Thane continued. “ _Like a human babe or a dragon hatchling. You won’t be able to do a full dragon-to-human transformation, nor some other perks for now because, at the moment, you are neither dragon nor human.”_

“ _But don’t worry,”_ he said, in response to my worried look, “ _in a few years, you will become a full Dragonborn, and all this will be behind you. For now, we just need to work on getting you used to your newfound abilities.”_

“ _Good, that’s reassuring,”_ I say, before Thane starts to talk to me about the new capabilities I have, and what a Dragonborn can do.

**- _End Flashback_ -**

* * *

**_Great Hall, Berk, Present Time_ **

**_No-one’s POV_ **

“… then over the next eight years we did many things, including training, visiting new places and finding and recruiting dragon riders, future Dragonborn.” Hiccup concluded, Astrid resting against his shoulder. She had moved next to him during his story and rested against him, enjoying his presence.

“The first of the group we found was Bomber,” Hiccup said, pointing to the man who was currently locked in an arm wrestle with Gobber. “His village was very hostile to dragons … similar to Berk, in fact. They would slay a dragon and sell its body parts as trinkets, the only dragons they would keep were their heads as trophies. He found his Gronckle in a swamp when he was walking around and called it … well … Swampy. She was stuck in a pit and couldn’t get out, until he rescued her. They became lifelong friends after that. Unfortunately, his village found out and were going to kill him and Swampy, until they fled away with us.”

“Next was Terry,” he said, pointing to the small child. He was playing with a couple of kids that weren’t afraid, either due to being reckless or just plain friendly. “He was adopted by a Terrible Terror, but a nearby village found him and his mother. They killed her and locked him up, but he escaped due to his incredible talent for magic, as we found out. He ran away into the forest and lived there for a time. He has an unusual attachment to me and Bomber because we saved him from a dangerous dragon. He joined us after that.”

“He looks just like you when you were little,” Astrid said with a little giggle.

“That’s what the others thought too. They ended up calling him ‘Hiccup II’ because of it.”

“So who was next?” Astrid asked, looking up into Hiccup’s eyes.

“The next one was Natalie.”

Natalie was hanging from one of the rafters, trying to ignore Draco’s constant flirting.

“She is the daughter of a man and a Nadder Dragonborn. Her parents were killed by the same village that Terry escaped from, and she ended up living in the forest afterwards, surviving the way she was taught to. The village always had rumours of a wild girl living in there, never daring to show herself but always getting in their way.”

“I guess those rumours were true,” Astrid laughed.

“They certainly were,” Hiccup replied before continuing. “We rescued her as well after she was swarmed by the villagers. Her spear is one of shadow, a gift from her mother. She is capable of summoning more to help her in a fight. Next were the twins, Spitshot and Spitfire.”

They were engaged in a conversation with Berk’s mischievous twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. By the way they were talking and fighting each other, it looked like they were going to get along real well together.

“We found them on a mostly desolate island; we guess their parents abandoned them. If it wasn’t for their Zippleback Rayne and Ryne, they would’ve died a long time ago. They were brought by their dragon to a tribe in the centre of the island that seemed to praise dragons. There they stayed until we got them to come with us. I’ll tell you, they were a menace for the tribe, just like Ruff and Tuff. The tribesmen did teach them how to fight, though. They were also taught special bomb-making techniques that make up a lot of their fighting secrets.”

“Let’s hope that they don’t share those secrets with Ruff and Tuff,” Astrid put in. “I think your dad would flip his top if they learnt how to make those.”

Hiccup let out a small chuckle, though he seemed to sadden a bit over the mention of Stoick.

‘ _I wonder … he must still feel bad about what happened,_ ’ Astrid thought. ’ _Oh Hiccup … we both just want you back with us here …’_

“Who came after the twins?” Astrid inquired, wanting to keep him from feeling down.

“Next was Draco,” Hiccup said, looking at the man. He had given up on flirting with Natalie for now and was surrounded by a mob of girls all desperate for him to choose them. He wasn’t paying his usual attention to them, instead talking with Snotlout who seemed to be looking pleased with how the conversation was going.

“… I’d look out if I were you,” Hiccup warned Astrid.

“How come?”

“Because Draco is known for having nearly any girl fall for him, and he is currently talking to Snotlout. I would guess Snotlout’s trying to find a way to get you to fall for him, if he’s still flirting with you.”

“Oh great …” Astrid mumbled. “He just won’t get the hint.”

“Anyway, Draco was part of a wealthy family. In fact, his whole village was stinking rich. It originally seemed like a nice place … until we found out they were slaughtering dragons and selling their body parts for potions and other magical uses. We helped Draco free his Nightmare Swiftwing from one of the slaughterhouses and he ran away afterwards with us.”

“What about the other girl?” Astrid asked, a bit wary of her. She had to admit that she was beautiful, and she was worried that maybe Hiccup liked her as well. She didn’t want her to take Hiccup away from her.

“Catherine?” Hiccup asked. “Well she was an interesting one.” Both of them looked around for her, but they couldn’t spot her in the hall.

“She must be with Thane. I mean, he is her brother.”

“What?!” Astrid exclaimed, making a few heads turn their way. She instantly quietened down, leaning closer. “Sorry. They’re brother and sister? They seem so different.”

“They do a bit, but they’re much more similar than they look at first glance,” Hiccup said. “She ran away after some sort of incident that happened between them. Neither of them will talk about it, nor about their past. All I know is that it had something to do with that skull-like katana on her back.”

“So, you don’t know much about her?” Astrid asked a bit disappointed. She wanted something to go on in case she did try to get Hiccup’s heart.

“I didn’t say that. When we found her, she seemed to be distant, especially with Thane. I think I was the one that she would speak to the most at that stage. But, over time, she warmed up to everyone, even Thane, though she still seemed to be closest to me. She is a lethal fighter, deadly in every sense of the word. However, she is kind, if not a bit easily irritated, she’ll worry for those who are hurt and try to help in any way she can.”

“Oh,” Astrid said, a bit surprised.

‘ _Why would she warm to Hiccup more easily? Is it just because of his kind hearted nature? Or does she like him the way I do? How does Hiccup feel about her?’_ Astrid thought, hoping that nothing happened like that.

“Did … did anything happen between you?” Astrid asked reluctantly.

‘ _I need to know … I just have to …’_

“Why do you ask?” Hiccup stammered, caught off guard by the question.

“Just … curious,” she replied.

‘ _Please Hiccup … tell me that it’s nothing. Tell me I’m paranoid …’_

“It’s … complicated,” he answered, before we both stayed silent for a moment. It was clear that he wasn’t going to say anymore.

“Fine,” she said, giving in, “but I want answers later.”

Hiccup didn’t give any recognition that he heard Astrid, until she said something else.

“Wait, you didn’t tell me Thane’s story.”

“Well, that’s the thing. Like Catherine, he won’t say a thing about his past,” he groaned. “He keeps saying that I’ll learn later, but it never seems to come. It’s as if he hates what happened.”

“Why would he do that?” Astrid asked confused.

“No idea, it’s his business. I can respect his decision.”

“HICCUP! GET OVER HERE!” Thane bellowed, making everyone jump. Even with such volume, you could tell that Thane was outside the hall.

“I better go see what he wants,” Hiccup said, standing up and leaving Astrid alone at the bench.

‘ _Well, Hiccup, you may not want to know about Thane, but I do,”_ Astrid thought as she began to formulate a plan.

* * *

**_Great Hall, Berk_ **

Catherine had stealthily followed Hiccup and Astrid and was listening to their conversation from behind a tall support. A small smile played on her lips as he regaled the tales of the Dragonborn, how they all met. But she then froze when it got to her.

‘ _Be careful, Hiccup,’_ Cat thought, getting worried. ‘ _You heart may yearn for hers, but I can tell there’s still doubt. Please don’t say too much.’_

She looked satisfied at Astrid’s disappointment when she was told that Cat didn’t divulge into her past, leaving little for her to go on. But Hiccup’s continued talk began to lower those spirits.

‘ _Hiccup … why wouldn’t I have warmed to you? You took my breath away. You brought me out of my darkness and back to who I was. You helped reunite me with Thane, looked after us all and you were always kind to those that deserved it. I keep trying to get closer to you, and you seem to be opening up, bit by bit. I love you, Hiccup … Please love me back …’_

When Astrid asked if there was anything between them, Cat’s breath got caught in her throat. She realised what his answer was here would tell whether he loved her or not. His answer, “It’s … complicated,” seemed to relax her a bit.

‘ _It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love me, but it doesn’t mean he does. I think he’s just trying to be careful for Astrid’s sake. He must be feeling confused about it all … at least I hope so …’_

Soon the conversation passed briefly to Thane and Catherine went back to listening … or eavesdropping. Depends on how you look at it. When Thane’s voice boomed in from outside, she jumped along with everyone else.

“Who knew he could speak like that after that trap?” she muttered to herself.

She made herself seems smaller so that Hiccup wouldn’t notice her when he walked away, leaving Astrid at the bench alone. Peeking around the support, she could see that Astrid was thinking hard about something. Cat guessed it was either about Hiccup or Thane’s past.

‘ _I could speak to her now, away from Hiccup’s ears,’_ she thought. ‘ _I could see how she truly feels about all this … But if Hiccup finds out, he might not be happy. It could just make things worse.’_

Turning away and slumping against the support, she placed her head in her hands.

‘ _Fine, I’ll let them be for now. But I’m going to need to talk to Hiccup. I need to know how he feels … and Thane can’t find out. He’s already suspicious from what happened outside, I can’t let him find out more.’_

Cat sat there for a few more minutes before she quietly got up and walked away, careful to make sure that Astrid didn’t notice her.

‘ _Hiccup … please make the right choice …’_ she thought sadly as she walked over to speak with the other Dragonborn.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love triangles. Fun, aren't they? In all seriousness, around this time when it was being uploaded on FanFiction, I had people asking if Catherine could be the one to end up with Hiccup. I guess I've written her right. 
> 
> Same deal as usual. Comments, thoughts, suggestions, criticism; feel free to present them. We should now return to the 3 day upload schedule - easy to keep to it when there's chapters already written, eh? Key word being 'should'. See ya soon, adios!


	6. Unlocking The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone dangerous this way comes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Internet has just come back on, so here we go. 
> 
> Just beforehand, in regards to AsterK's questions, I'm happy to answer questions on the story. What I'll say is going to depend on what the question entails. If it's a question from an earlier chapter and the chapter that answers it has already been uploaded, then I'll just tell you to read on. If the chapter hasn't been uploaded, then I'll be quite vague in my response. I don't just give out spoilers to anyone. If it's been answered but you're still a bit confused, then I'll try to explain it a different way. 
> 
> Anyway, onwards!

**_Village, Berk_ **

Hiccup exited the Great Hall after hearing Thane’s thunderous call, dodging a few Vikings stumbling around outside with mugs of mead in their hands. He wandered the village, following the direction that Thane’s voice came from, looking left and right to try and spot him. The more he searched the more of the village he saw. More and more of his past came to him, many different memories coming from the depths of his mind. Joyous ones, grievous ones, sad ones, mediocre ones. Some where he was alone, some with others.

Soon Hiccup was reaching the other side of the village and he still hadn’t found Thane.

“I wonder … could he be there?” Hiccup muttered to himself, walking towards the killing ring, before leaning on the barred cage overlooking the inner reaches. Looking down he could see Thane standing in the centre of the arena glaring at the surroundings. Hiccup got up and walked towards the still open gate, not wanting to keep Thane waiting any longer.

“What’s up, Thane?” Hiccup asked. “What do you need me for?”

“What is this place, Hiccup?” Thane replied, not looking at the youth. “I can smell the blood … I can hear the screams … I can taste the fear … I can feel the pain. They killed dragons here, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Hiccup answered hesitantly. “They train young Vikings in here to slay dragons. A few names were given to this place. The arena, the training arena, but mostly … the killing ring.”

“Can you hear them?” Thane asked, looking at Hiccup. “Can you hear the dragons’ pleas?”

Breaking the silence between them were the muffled cries of five voices, trapped behind the thick metal gates. Their screams were agony to Hiccup’s ears.

“ _Help us! Free us! Save us!”_ the dragons shout, pounding against the iron and roaring in desperation.

“No … we have to get them out,” Hiccup said, unconsciously walking forwards. “We have to save them.”

Hiccup began to run towards the gate mechanisms in an attempt to release the dragons from their prisons, but was stopped by Thane’s hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing, Thane?” Hiccup said. “We have to help them!”

“Leave them, Hiccup,” Thane replied, getting a stunned look from Hiccup. “I have other plans for them. Then we can help them, if they still want it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just trust me,” was all Thane would say.

Hiccup looked as if he would argue otherwise, before his shoulders slumped and he gave a defeated sigh.

“Don’t worry, we will help them,” Thane assured him, making Hiccup feel a bit better.

“Is asking about this facility the only reason you called for me?” Hiccup asked.

“No, it isn’t,” Thane answered. “I get the sense that you want to teach this village about dragons. To cease their hostilities towards Dragonkind and teach them about our ways. I’ve noticed it for a while, ever since we decided to come here.”

Hiccup was momentarily shocked that Thane knew what he was thinking, before mentally cursing himself for believing he wouldn’t know even a slither of it.

“Yes, I do,” he answered, dropping his head. “I think … no. I believe they can be convinced to change.”

“Well, I don’t have a problem with it,” Thane replied, surprising Hiccup. “Just get permission from Stoick, your father, and we’ll get to work on it.”

“Of course. I’ll do that right away.” Hiccup said joyously, transforming into Toothless’ form and flying towards the Great Hall.

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

Thane stood calmly in the centre of the arena, watching Hiccup fly off to try and get the news he so desperately wanted.

‘ _He was too easy to get rid of. I thought Hiccup would’ve asked more questions than that,’_ Thane thought. ‘ _No matter, it gives me the time I need to think.’_

Thane sat down where he was standing, closing his eyes and crossing his legs over.

‘ _Death isn’t too far away. How are we going to beat him?’_ Thane wondered, delving into his troubled mind.

In the midst of his thoughts, he sensed a presence drop into the arena behind him, one filled with shadow and despair yet insanely familiar. A combination of relief and terror washed over Thane as he stood up, drawing forth his swords.

“Malthazar,” he said, a calm fury alight in the depths of his eyes as he turns to face the foe. “How are you here?”

Malthazar chuckled darkly at the question, knowing what Thane was trying to do with his trap.

“Death may be immobilised after the little stunt you pulled on Dragon Island, but you didn’t manage to catch me in its grips,” Malthazar said, smiling as he met Thane’s steely glare.

“Darn, I was hoping to kill you in that blast,” Thane said, using his rare sarcasm in an attempt to hide his shock. “So … how did a low lizard like you live?”

Now if anyone other Dragonborn was called a low lizard, they would’ve taken great offence at it. Being called a low lizard is a big insult when it comes to dragons and them. However, Malthazar just shook it off, chuckling almost insanely.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he answered, grinning madly. “Every fibre in my body is screaming at me. Unfortunately, I’m not here to exact revenge.”

“Really, well I can’t say the same,” Thane replied, gripping his swords tighter. “I could kill you right now.”

Thane stepped into his battle stance. He crouched lower, giving himself a bit more momentum to work with at the start. His left hand sword pointed straight up towards the sky whilst the right hand one was neck level, brought across in front of him. His eyes locked onto Malthazar, the fiery depths coming to the surface.

“You can try,” Malthazar smirked, opening his hands out to his sides.

Black mist spewed forth from his hands, shifting and shaping into long, thin objects. When the visually impenetrable mist dispersed, two long black scythes were revealed in his hands. Their steely edges were bone white, while the rest of the blades were eternally black. The wooden sticks were as black as night and as strong as steel.

“I see you’ve begun to master Death powers,” Thane observed, his voice steady. “Those are Spirit Slashers, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Good to see you recognised them. That means you’re not brain dead,” Malthazar remarked, holding the scythes up for Thane to see. “It doesn’t matter, though. You have no idea what these babies can do.”

Malthazar then dropped into a battle stance almost identical to Thane’s, just adapted to suit the scythes instead of swords.

“BRING IT ON!” Thane roared, charging at Malthazar.

“Glad to,” Malthazar said as he did the same, both meeting somewhere in between their starting points.

Lightning clashed with Death as the two almighty powers faced off, slamming into each other with tremendous force.

* * *

**_Village, Berk_ **

Hiccup flew up to the Great Hall, first thinking that if Stoick would be anywhere, it would be celebrating in the hall with the others. As he was about to touch down, he spotted Gobber walking cheerfully outside.

‘ _I should ask Gobber if he knows where my dad is,’_ Hiccup thought. ‘ _If anyone will know, it will be him, plus it beats walking through everyone in the Great Hall if dad isn’t there.’_

Gobber reacted with a start when the Night Fury dropped out of the sky, landing with a thud just in front of him.

“Don’t worry, Gobber,” Hiccup said, “it’s just me.”

“Oh, Hiccup,” Gobber said, his hand over his chest. “I was wondering where you got to. We’ve got so much to catch up on.”

“Some other time, Gobber,” Hiccup said. “Right now I need to speak to my dad. Do you know where he is?”

“Stoick? He’s at his house,” Gobber answered.

“Strange … I would’ve thought he’d be celebrating with the others,” Hiccup remarked.

“I think he just needs to clear his head. You leaving took its toll on Stoick, and how you returned wasn’t how he would’ve expected a grand return from you to be,” Gobber said. “Truth be told, I’m shocked too.”

“Yeah, it’s not how I expected things to turn out,” Hiccup admitted. “Having an enemy come this way certainly wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Oh well,” Gobber sighed, “You best go talk to your father. I won’t keep you waiting.”

“Thanks, Gobber. For everything,” Hiccup said before taking off again, leaving Gobber to look at his dragon form flying off.

* * *

**_Chief’s House, Berk_ **

Stoick was sitting down in the living room, poking the lit fire as he delved deep into his thoughts. True, his son was alive and had returned, but he had now sided with those … those _devils_ … Now, a new threat has turned up, and if what those … _Dragonborn_ say is true, then it could be the end of them all.

‘ _Also … who’s to say Hiccup won’t just leave after this is all over?’_ Stoick wondered. ‘ _What if he leaves again? Where will that put the rest of us?’_

Whilst his mind was shrouded and doubtful, the hot coals of the fire turning as the metal pike prods the flame, a gummy-grinning Night Fury bursts through the door. Stoick reacts immediately, grabbing his hammer and jumping to his feet, ready to strike. When he saw the artificial fin, he dropped the hammer, giving an irritated sigh.

“For Thor’s sake, Hiccup! Don’t startle me like that!” Stoick said sternly.

“Sorry, Dad,” Hiccup apologised, looking down at the ground before breathing out his blue fire wall and transforming back into his normal form, “but I had something really important to ask you.”

Stoick sighs as he slumps back into his seat.

“Anything, son,” he replied. “What is it?”

“Ok … I need you all to stop killing dragons.”

That request struck Stoick right through to his core, where no one dared intentionally strike. However, due to his … well, stoic nature, he didn’t show it.

“What did you say?” he asked, clearly discombobulated, a hidden rage lit slightly.

“I know what you’re thinking, Dad,” Hiccup said, raising his arms up and showing his palms to Stoick. “I know they attacked us for years, but we don’t have to fight them. They didn’t choose to attack us, they were being controlled by a queen. But they can be befriended, just like me and Toothless.”

“I-I just can’t trust them, Hiccup,” Stoick said, holding the bridge between his eyes.

“But Dad, they can be trusted,” Hiccup pressed. “Besides, _you_ don’t have to trust them. All I need are some volunteers willing to learn how to bond with a dragon. Then, you can decide whether or not to train them based on the results.”

Stoick sighed with a heavy heart, weighing up the possibilities.

“Hmm … fine. You can have your volunteers, but good luck trying to find anyone around here crazy enough to ride a dragon,” Stoick said, secretly curious about what could happen.

“Thanks, Dad. Don’t worry, you won’t regret-” Hiccup was cut off by a thunderous blast echoing out across the entire island, the village shaking with the force. The forces of lightning and thunder, coupled with that of an evil presence, charged the air.

“What in Odin’s name was that?!” Stoick exclaimed, getting to his feet. However, Hiccup was already well ahead of him, shoving the door aside and running like the wind towards the arena.

‘ _That was definitely not natural. It came from the arena … Thane! Hold on, I’m coming!’_ Hiccup thought as he changed into Toothless’ form, flying faster than the wind to the killing ring.

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

_KABOOM!_

Another huge electrical blast collided with the arena as Malthazar and Thane’s weapons clashed, the frenzy and mystical powers contained within each one charging the battle to deadly proportions.

“LIGHTING, STRIKE!” Thane shouted as his swords charged up, coursing with the power of a thunderstorm, before slashing furiously at Malthazar.

Malthazar jumped out of the way, causing Thane’s twin swords to slam into the ground. A pillar of lightning struck where the swords hit, and a thunderbolt struck the side of the arena from the sky, as if Thor tried to join in the fight.

“DEATH, SLASH!” Malthazar yelled, sweeping both scythes in large arcs.

Thane dodged both, making one slam into the ground while the other created a dark energy slash that collided into the walls of the ring. Both impact zones turned into a deathly sort of black, rotting and decaying.

“Grr … you are really annoying. You know that?” Thane growled, spinning the left hand sword into a reverse hold and slashing again, attempting to strike them down.

Malthazar managed to dodge most of the slash, receiving only a minor cut along his arm.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” he shouted, transforming into his Night Fury form and pouncing at Thane.

Thane tried to jump out of the way, but he was unsuccessful. He got rammed into the arena wall, leaving a large crumbling crater in his impact zone. Thane slumped over, looking defeated as he was stuck. Malthazar walked over to see if Thane had finally died, but in doing so he made a grave mistake. Thane transformed into his Night Fury form as soon as Malthazar got close enough, freeing himself from the wall, and firing a plasma blast at the Death manipulator. Malthazar just dodged, saving himself from the incinerating blast, but was caught off guard as Thane tackled him head on. They both tumbled towards the stone floor, Thane using the gaining momentum to his advantage by slamming Malthazar down, taking the wind out of him. However, he still managed to hurl Thane off him moments afterwards.

Both were forced to revert back to their human forms as they grew weaker in the chaotic duel between lightning and death. The arena looked like a warzone. Walls were cracked, scorched, some parts crumbling down. Black zones littered the floor and sides from Malthazar’s Death Slashes, whilst burnt patches showed where Thane’s Lightning Strikes hit, the metal bars and chains above them coursing with electricity. Malthazar slowly walked up to Thane, who was breathing heavily and sprawled on the ground.

“Now … you die,” he said, grinning madly as he summoned his Spirit Slashers and raised them above his head, ready to strike Thane down.

The blow never came as a faint whistling sound was heard, followed by a powerful plasma blast from outside the arena. The shot hit Malthazar like a thunderbolt, the resulting explosion flinging him back and hitting the walls with a sickening crash. Smoke rose off him as he lay there, nearly incinerated from the fireball, coughing and hacking as he tried to breathe.

“What … what the *cough* … hell was that?!” Malthazar managed to say, gingerly getting to his feet.

From the skies, a Night Fury dropped into the arena and transformed, Hiccup stepping forward and standing over Thane, now sitting up, drawing _Liferend_ from his hip into his left hand and pointing its tip towards Malthazar.

“Get away from him,” Hiccup said sternly as he watched Malthazar slowly get up.

“Who in *cough* … the name of … Odin *cough* are you?” he hissed, trying to draw breath into him.

“Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Night Fury Dragonborn,” Hiccup said as Thane stood up.

‘ _Darn, I was hoping that he wouldn’t get involved,’_ Thane thought as he grabbed his swords off the cracked stone floor. ‘ _The explosions must’ve drawn him here. Oh well, it’s too late to worry about that now.’_

“So *cough* … you have … gotten yourself some … lackeys, Thane,” Malthazar hissed, summoning his Spirit Slashers once more.

“Lackeys … no,” Thane replied as all the other Dragonborn came up to the arena’s observation area and looked in, followed by the entire village of Berk. Everyone’s eyes fell upon Malthazar, Catherine looking at him with a sense of horror and somewhat longing.

“Friends and allies … yes,” he finished, bringing his blades across him in a cross, lightning charging within them.

“Well, well … things just got real interesting,” Malthazar remarked, his scythes turning back into black mist and then absorbed into him. “But as I said, I’m not here for you. I came with a message from Death … a message for you all.”

“If all you came to do was deliver a message, why fight me?” Thane inquired.

“Meh, I wanted to see if I could kill you this time,” Malthazar answered, smirking in a creepy fashion.

“Death says that though you’re stunt may have immobilised him for now, he will be here in a week at most. Then you will die … each and every one of you. Also, he wants the stone.”

“The stone?! It’s here?!” Thane said, not bothering to hide his shock this time. “Where is it?!”

“Beats me. He’s been looking for it,” Malthazar replied. “Well, it’s been fun and all, but now I’ll take my leave.”

“Whoa, what makes you think that we’ll just let you leave after what you’ve done?” Hiccup asked, stepping forwards. “Just who are you?”

“Who am I? Who am I?!” he said, cackling. “Well, my ignorant friend, I am Malthazar Nightson … or as Thane better knows me, his other half!”

With that, Malthazar transformed into his Night Fury form and flew off while everyone stared aghast at Thane.

‘ _Things just got a whole lot more difficult,’_ Thane thought as he attempted to walk casually out of the arena unnoticed.

That plan failed as everyone rushed to the gateway, bombarding him with questions as he stepped out.

“ENOUGH!” he bellowed out over the calamity, silencing everyone.

“I’ll explain things later, not now,” he announced, which was received with a lot of unsatisfied and impatient mumbling and arguing.

“Why not right now?” Spitelout sneered, pushing his way in front of the crowd. “Why do we need to wait?”

“Because Thane needs to rest,” Catherine answered as she and the other Dragonborn pushed their way forwards and stood around Thane, preventing anyone getting closer. “You would want to rest too if you went through what he just did.”

Spitelout opened his mouth to retort back, but Stoick chose to respond before he could.

“So be it,” he said gruffly. “But we will want our answers.”

“And you’ll get them,” Thane replied, before he and the other Dragonborn forced their way through the vast crowd. Catherine and the others put themselves around Thane and pushed their way through so Thane could pass through unhindered, Hiccup stepping out of the arena and stealthily joining the group without anyone noticing him.

* * *

**_Dragonborn Camp, The Cove, Evening, Berk_ **

The Dragonborn walked back to their camp silently. A few wanted to ask Thane about what happened, but looking at how Thane was, they realised it was better and safer that they didn’t. When reaching the camp, Thane walked straight into his tent and lay down while the others talked about what they should do. A couple got sent out to go hunt while the others stayed at the camp, either conversing with one another or lazing around the cove, in the water or by the tents.

A few hours later, Astrid stealthily came to the entrance to the cove, following what Hiccup had told her earlier about where they had set up. Peering in, she saw no one watching for any visitors, so she slowly crept towards the camp. As she reached the edges of the camp, she noticed a few people lying around, some awake and staring off into space, others asleep up against some of the tents.

The layout of the camp was exactly like how Hiccup said it was; three tents on the right and four on the left, each with a design to tell you who’s was whose. The centre tent, Hiccup’s and also the battle tent, with a large fire pit in front of it.

Astrid stealthily made her way over to the one Hiccup said was Thane’s, but just before she could walk in, Hiccup intercepted her and took her into his tent.

“Where do you think you were going?” Hiccup asked her as soon as they were inside.

“I was … uh … looking for you,” she lied, trying to look as genuine and innocent as possible.

Unfortunately for her, Hiccup didn’t buy a single word of it.

“If you’re wondering, Thane won’t say a single thing about what just happened, nor will he speak about his past,” Hiccup said, knowing what she was trying to do and realising she was trying to lead him away from her true goal.

“Oh, and he’ll just readily tell you all about it?” she snapped, annoyed that she’s getting the same talk as before.

“No … he won’t say anything to us either,” he replied softly, looking down slightly. If he was hurt by how she spoke to him, he didn’t show it.

“Oh … Hiccup, I’m sorry,” Astrid said, feeling bad for directing her annoyance at him.

“It’s okay, Astrid,” he replied, giving her a peck on the cheek and getting a stunned look in return. “I’m not hurt.”

“When did you get so bold?” she asked, genuinely curious. The Hiccup she knew would never have the guts to do that.

“Eight years will do that to a man,” he replied, both feeling a longing pang for the time since he left.

“I guess … Well, even if he won’t tell you, I still have to try,” she stammered, trying to recover from his action.

“Well then, I wish you the best of luck,” Hiccup replied, giving her his signature grin.

A blush began to creep up Astrid’s face as she hurried out of the tent, not wanting Hiccup to see. Making sure no one saw her again, she slowly opened the flaps of Thane’s tent and snuck in.

‘ _Here goes nothing,’_ she thought as she entered the tent.

The first thing that struck her was that the entire room was surrounded with bookshelves, overflowing with books of many kinds. Ones on animals, ones on legends, ones on history, others on culture, but many in a style that she could not decipher. A couple of desks and tables were nearly covered in them, plus some scattered the ground. A map of Berk was laid out on a book-free space, different markings and colours used for different areas. A small chest was in the corner, by the foot of the bed. Now the bed had black covers, strange runes and symbols stitched into the furs. It also had an occupant … Thane.

Astrid froze when Thane muttered, but silently sighed when she realised he was still asleep. Slowly she crept around the tent, trying to find something that could be a sign of his past. She checked the books, the bookcases, the desk, the table. She checked just about everywhere and came up empty handed.

‘ _No! There must be something! Where is it?!’_ she began to think, starting to become frustrated.

Astrid paced for a little bit, before her foot caught on something and she fell right in front of the bed. She looked up in fear of Thane waking up, but all he did was roll over in his bed, muttering words that she couldn’t understand. Her head hit the dirt as she sighed in belief, before looking to see what she tripped up on.

‘ _What’s this?’_

Looking at the object at her feet, she discovered it to be an old looking book, its cover torn and patched, with the title ‘ _Journal’_ etched in silver along the spine.

‘ _This must be Thane’s journal,’_ she thought as her eyes widened in excitement. ‘ _This should tell me what I want to know!’_

Clutching the book as if her life depended on it, she hurried out of the tent and ran to a secluded part of the cove, devoid of others, and placed the book on the ground. She put her hand on the cover, trying to turn it and open the book, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. She tried again and again, but to no avail.

“Thor, damn it! Why won’t you open?” Astrid cursed, getting bitterer with each attempt.

As if the book heard her, grey symbols mystically appeared on the cover, creating a phrase.

_DEATH is only the beginning_

“Death is only the beginning?” she muttered, clearly confused by the message. “What could it mean?”

After pondering it for a bit and coming up with nothing, she scooped up the book and headed towards Hiccup’s tent.

“Maybe Hiccup can figure it out,” she said to herself. “Much as I don’t want him to know, I need his help. Plus, I’m sure he got smarter over the time he was gone. Well … _smarterer.”_

Astrid ran into Hiccup’s tent, almost running into the boy as she burst in.

“Well, how did you go?” Hiccup asked, clearly knowing what Thane would’ve done. “Did Thane indulge you in his past?”

“No, he didn’t,” Astrid said, before holding up the book, “but look what I found!”

“What?!” Hiccup exclaimed. “That’s Thane’s journal!”

“I know it is. Problem is, I don’t know how to open it,” she complained. “It’s locked by something. Can you please open it?”

“Sorry, Astrid, but I can’t look at Thane’s journal,” Hiccup said. “It just wouldn’t be right.”

“Oh, come on. Please,” Astrid begged, giving Hiccup a look that he just couldn’t resist.

“Fine,” he moaned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Hiccup grabbed the book from Astrid and put it down on the table, reading over the inscription.

“Yay. Thanks, Hiccup,” Astrid said cheerfully, leaning on Hiccup’s back and kissing him on the cheek.

“Uh … ok … uh,” Hiccup stammered as a blush spread on his cheek. “Uh … let’s see. DEATH is only the beginning … hmm … Oh! I’ve got it.”

“That was quick,” Astrid said, surprised and impressed. “So, what is it?”

“You notice how ‘death’ is in capitals?”

“Yeah … I just thought that was a spelling error.”

Hiccup shook his head. “No, magical phrases don’t have spelling errors. I think the keyword to open this has something to do with death.”

“Hmm … what about the Dragonese for death?” Astrid asked.

“Could be … but it would be way too easy,” Hiccup pointed out, slipping deep into thought. “I wonder … no, it can’t be … wait, hang on.”

“What is it?” she asked. “Do you know the answer?”

“I think so,” he replied as he leant close to the book. “Open. Keyword: Thanatos.”

After ‘Thanatos’ was mentioned, the cover opened up, revealing the first page.

“How did you know that?” Astrid whispered, her gaze captured on the page.

“Well, Thanatos was apparently a representation of Death,” Hiccup explained. “Thane was very interested in him.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked. “Let’s take a look.”

Astrid fully focused on Thane’s journal, while Hiccup was a lot more wary. He reluctantly looked at the page. Even though he was extremely curious about Thane’s life, I felt really bad about peering in without his permission. However, Astrid was still drawing him in, even after eight years apart. With a sigh, he turned the page, taking them both into the past that Thane once had.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious about Thanatos, it is based off of actual mythology. Thanatos was the ancient Greek god/personification of Death. He's considered a minor figure, mainly because he was feared instead of worshipped, plus people put more prominence in Hades as he is in several legends, while Thanatos is in few. 
> 
> Anyway, usual blurb. Suggestions, criticism, ideas, thoughts, questions, all are welcome. Also, you can find me now on Tumblr @thorongil82 if you're thatway inclined. I'm mainly using that to post updates and whatnot, but happy to chat there too if you so wish. Anyway, until next time.


	7. Secrets of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One look to the past can change how the present is seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheers for the extra kudos. Onwards!

**_Hiccup’s Tent, The Cove, Berk_ **

The pages of the notebook looked just like any other, but the words and symbols soon started glowing mystically. They then began to float off the page, forming in the air in front of Astrid and Hiccup. They both watched on wide eyed as the entries continued to form in front of them.

“What the …” Hiccup said surprised.

“This is incredible!” squealed Astrid, holding onto Hiccup’s arm.

The words then swirled together, projecting into a visual image that moved as it lingered. It then drew Astrid and Hiccup inside the image, allowing them to witness the events recorded.

* * *

**_Journal Entry 1_ **

**_Village of Dek_ **

Astrid and Hiccup landed in a large farm resting on the outskirts of a village. Both were located on a group of rocky formations, looking like floating islands that rose high above the sea, each section connected by wooden and stone bridges. The farm had a big wooden barn, a small house made of wood and stone, and a large field with growing crops, yaks and sheep. Astrid and Hiccup look around themselves surprised.

“What is this place?” Astrid asks.

“I think we’re in the journal,” Hiccup replied. “It mustn’t record writing … it records memories.”

“Well then, be quiet,” Astrid said, pushing Hiccup. “Let’s watch.”

‘ _ **I love this place,’**_ a male voice that sounds nearly identical to Thane’s echoes out through the sky.

“What was that?” Astrid asked, looking at Hiccup for answers.

“A better question would be who is it?” Hiccup replied. “It sounds akin to Thane, but … happier.”

‘ _ **I love the sea, the sky and the rock that we live on,’**_ the voice said.

The memory moved along to a little girl running around the farm. She had long, silky, black hair in a ponytail and a pretty face. Astrid and Hiccup were pulled to her, looking curiously at each other due to the last message.

‘ _ **That’s my sister, Catherine,’**_ the voice pointed out as she jumped up on a fence, smiling brightly.

“Catherine?!” they exclaimed.

“Is that really the same girl?” Astrid asked.

“It looks like it …” Hiccup answered.

Catherine was looking at a young man tilling the fields, which the two where then moved over to. He rose up and wiped the sweat off his brow, revealing a head of spiky jet black hair and a large grin as Catherine rushed off again.

“That can’t be Thane … he never smiles,” Hiccup said.

“Maybe something happened to stop that,” Astrid suggested.

‘ _ **That’s me, Thanatos,’**_ the voice belonging to Thanatos said, dashing their thoughts out of sight.

“Thanatos?” Astrid asked. “Isn’t this Thane’s journal?”

“I guess not,” Hiccup answered. “He was interested in a man called Thanatos after all, so he could’ve found this at some stage. But what I don’t understand is why Thane would carry around someone else’s journal … and why that guy is with Catherine if she’s Thane’s sister.”

They held their questions and confusion as the voice continued to speak.

‘ _ **My sister and I live in the Village of Dek, but it is known by most as the floating village,’**_ Thanatos said as Astrid and Hiccup were picked up, floating over and around the islands themselves. _**‘This makes sense, as the village was built up over the sea on the floating rock formations by our ancestors. From what we know, this village was built here for three main reasons.’**_

Hiccup and Astrid fly over the village, looking down to see one similar to Berk. Villagers wandered the buildings and village, cheerfully greeting each other in their peaceful time.

‘ _ **The first, it’s well protected from attacks, meaning that we can go around our lives without much fear of invasion. The second, the rocks are filled with resources which let our crops grow plentifully even through the hardest of times. And the third …’**_

The village transitioned to night time, buildings alit in fierce flames and warriors running around with sharp weapons of iron and steel. Dragons flew through the sky and crawled along the ground, fighting with the villagers with flame and talons.

‘… _**was to slay dragons.’**_

“No …” whispered Hiccup as he watched the onslaught.

Astrid floated next to him and wrapped her arms around him as she watched on, Hiccup returning the gesture. The flashes of fire increased as dragons shot fireball after fireball, casting down the villagers from burns and cuts. They responded with bolas and nets, bringing them down and striking them when given the chance.

‘ _ **You see, the village is well protected from attacks by other Vikings and humans, but not from humans,’**_ Thanatos explained as they hovered above a young man nearing his adulthood, grasping his sword and looming over a downed Stormcutter, weak and injured with a wing missing. _**‘The Deks have a certain taste, a hunger to kill the rarest and most powerful dragons. It’s a rite of passage here.’**_

The young man rose his sword above his head, glaring at the Stormcutter as it looked fearfully at him. He smirked as he brought the blade down, slaying the dragon in cold blood **(no pun intended)**. Hiccup turned his head from the deed, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see it. Astrid gave him a firm squeeze, letting him know she was there, and flinching as the blade came down. She turned her head into Hiccup afterwards, her changing perspective altering how she now reacts with such an act.

‘ _ **Coincidently, many of the rarest dragons come here to steal food from us, thousands upon thousands since I could fight. They try to steal food, but the Vikings keep holding them back.’**_

Other rare dragons could be seen as Hiccup and Astrid continued their flyover, all fighting fiercely against the Viking villagers.One fight in particular saw eight Viking struggling to bring down a Snaptrapper, its four heads snapping at all of them. Meanwhile, Nadders and Gronckles could be seen flying off with a sheep or fish in their claws, though not many could reach the safety of the skies still carrying their cargo.

“It’s just like Berk …” Hiccup said as he watched on, Astrid nodding slowly in agreement.

‘ _ **It’s too dangerous for Catherine to be outside during the raids, so she waits in her room while I try and protect our parent’s farm.’**_

Hiccup and Astrid return to the farm and see Thanatos with a sword in hand and shield on his arm, battling with a Nightmare engulfed in flames. He was fighting smartly, avoiding the flaming lashes and getting underneath it, bashing it with his shield. Before long, the Nightmare was fleeing away, leaving Thanatos huffing and puffing, catching his breath as he searched the farm for signs of other dragons. They could also see Catherine sometimes peering through her window, watching and admiring her brother fighting off the various dragons.

“I can’t believe she got caught up in this all too …” Hiccup sighed as he looked at the young Catherine.

“Well, she at least could stay out of the firing line,” Astrid joked, unable to help the pang of jealousy that stirred up. “She didn’t go running around the village when she was told to stay inside.”

“Oh, funny …” Hiccup said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as previous raids on Berk came to mind.

‘ _ **Even though some of the rarest dragons come here to raid, none is more renowned and valuable to kill than a …’**_ Thanatos’ voice began to say as a faint whistling cut through the air, growing louder with each second.

“NIGHT FURY!” cried a Viking in the village, loud enough to be heard from the farm.

“GET DOWN!” shouted another as the Night Fury fired its plasma blast, obliterating a building in a deadly blast. Thanatos watched the explosion from the farm, his eyes alit with a fiery determination.

The image closed in around the two youth as it swirled, changing as one entry ended and another began.

* * *

**_Journal Entry 2_ **

**_Thanatos’ Farm, Village of Dek_ **

Astrid and Hiccup find themselves back at the farm, again at night, but with no dragons in the skies, no fires burning the village.

‘ _ **Well … tonight was shocking. No, that’s an understatement … tonight had gone beyond sanity and belief,’**_ Thanatos’ voice said, making Astrid and Hiccup curious. _**’I will never understand what I did this night, but I will record it in hopes of finding out.’**_

‘ _What could it be?’_ they both thought, looking at each other.

‘ _ **Last night, there were no dragon raids. Nothing that we needed to worry about … or so Cat and I thought.’**_

A strange whistling and the flapping of wings could be heard behind Astrid and Hiccup. They turned around and saw the outline of two dragons, one falling through the air, the other desperately trying to catch the first, both barely able to be seen against the night sky.

“Are those …” Astrid began, Hiccup finishing the question.

“Night Furies?”

‘ _ **I heard a loud thud outside my house, in the field. After debating, I decided to go outside and check, but not before telling Catherine to stay inside.’**_

Both Furies hit the ground, the one falling slamming into the field while the other landed safely before running to its companion, nuzzling it with his head. The door to the house opened up, light pouring out as Thanatos stepped out. He turned behind him and told a persistent Catherine to stay inside. She eventually gave in and walked inside, closing the door behind her.

‘ _ **When I saw what it was, I was shocked beyond all belief.’**_

Thanatos ran onto the field, his eyes going wide as he saw the cause of the noise. One of the Night Furies was standing in front of the other, snarling at him while in a crouched position, ready to pounce. The other Night Fury was lying on the ground, curled up slightly and whimpering.

‘ _ **I couldn’t think clearly, so I did what any sane person would do. I drew forth my sword and prepared for battle.’**_

Thanatos drew his sword from his sheath on his hip, getting in a battle stance and staring down the Night Fury.

‘ _ **But then, looking at the pair, I did what no person would do. I threw my sword away.’**_

He then threw the sword away, his face softening as he saw that they needed help right away. The standing Night Fury calmed down a lot when the weapon was gone, though he still watched Thanatos warily.

“It’s like Toothless and myself,” Hiccup whispered.

‘ _ **And finally, I did what any insane Viking would do … I helped a dragon.’**_

Thanatos slowly started to walk towards the dragons, the one standing began growling at him again as he drew near.

“Hey, easy there, dragon. I’m not going to hurt you,” Thanatos said softly, the Fury eyeing him curiously. “I’m not going to hurt you or your friend. I just want to help.”

The Night Fury growled a little louder, trying to get Thanatos to back down.

“He’s going to get hurt if he doesn’t back down,” Astrid said worried.

“Don’t worry, Astrid …” Hiccup said, giving her hand a squeeze.

‘ _He knows what he’s doing.’_

“Come on … I can see your friend is hurt, and I’ve got food and medicine back in the house where I can help him,” Thanatos said, holding his hands up to show he was unarmed.

The dragon growled louder on the final word.

“Sorry … where I can help _her_ ,” he repeated, correcting himself.

The correction calmed the protective Night Fury down enough so that he allowed Thanatos to get near the injured one. He carefully got it to her feet and, with the male Night Fury’s help, moved her to the house.

“Ugh … you must weigh a lot,” Thanatos groaned as he struggled with getting the female to the house. In response to the complaint, the male whacked Thanatos over the head with his tail.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” he cried as he repositioned himself. “Just don’t do that again. It’s hard enough as it is.”

The Night Fury just scoffed as they made it to the house, Thanatos leading them through the door and down into the cellar. When she saw the two dragons, Catherine ran out of the room, peeking with scared eyes from around the door. Astrid and Hiccup followed behind them, concerned for the injured Night Fury.

‘ _ **It did take a while, but I managed to get both Night Furies to my house and into the cellar. In there, I deduced that something was lodged deep into her arm and that it would take some tricky techniques to get it out.’**_

“Oh, boy … this is going to be tricky,” Thanatos said, tentatively touching the wound, making the Night Fury hiss in pain.

“Something’s lodged in there, and it seems to be working itself deeper into her,” he said, looking at the male.

The male roared at him desperately, and though Thanatos couldn’t understand what he said, his face conveyed the message. “ _I don’t care! Just help her!”_

“You really care for her, don’t you?” Thanatos asked, getting a sharp nod from the dragon. He rubbed a hand over his head and stood up.

“At least it’s not worse,” Hiccup said.

“What would happen if it was worse?” Astrid asked.

“Well … I’d say it would be harder to help her without causing more damage to her already.”

“Okay … I’m going to go get some things. This is going to hurt,” Thanatos said to the female, who grunted at him through the pain.

‘ _ **I got some bandages, medicine and a few instruments in order to help her. The medicine to lessen the pain, the instruments to help get whatever was in her arm out and the bandages to dress the wound afterwards … and to bandage myself if anything went wrong.’**_

Thanatos began by cleaning the wound, before giving some medicine to the Fury. He then began trying to pull out whatever it was that was in her arm with his tools. The medicine didn’t do much to lessen the pain, as Thanatos tried to steady himself due to the female thrashing about. The male jumped up and held her down, trying to keep her as still as possible to help Thanatos.

‘ _ **After several minutes of intense medical procedures, the object lodged in there was a strange kind of arrow. It had barbs that were meant to extend out once embedded in so that it would be difficult to pull out.’**_

Astrid and Hiccup peered over Thanatos to take a look at the arrow. It was snapped off halfway, yet it was completely metal and thicker than your usual arrow. They could see that the barbs hadn’t extended.

“It’s a good thing that those hadn’t extended,” Hiccup said. “Otherwise, it would’ve been much more painful than it was.”

“Thank Thor,” Astrid sighed.

The image then changed to Thanatos upstairs talking to a frightened Catherine.

‘… _**and it took me even longer to convince Catherine that the “monsters in the cellar” weren’t going to eat her.’**_

“It’s going to be fine, sis,” Thanatos said, crouching down to Catherine’s height. “They won’t hurt any of us. They’re good dragons.”

She shook her head furiously, looking at her brother fearfully.

“There aren’t good dragons,” she cried. “Dragons destroy the village. They take our food.”

The male Night Fury slowly walks up the stairs, peering curiously at Catherine. She backs away quickly … that is, until she backs into the wall. The dragon still keeps coming towards her, tilting his head at her.

“See? He’s coming to eat me now!” Catherine squealed, pressing herself against the wall. “Brother! Please help!”

“He’s not going to hurt you,” Thanatos said, standing up as the Fury reached Catherine.

She started freaking out as the dragon looked curiously at her, sniffing her. She tried to press herself further against the wall, regardless of her not being able to do so. The dragon then started purring and nuzzling her with his head. She looked scared and surprised as he raised his head, staring at her with kind, green eyes. Catherine then giggled and scratched his head, making him purr and lean into her again, resulting in more giggles.

“You were saying?” Thanatos chuckled as he watched the two of them.

“Okay … maybe there are some good dragons …” she admitted as she patted the male Night Fury, the image freezing then and disappearing, giving way to the next entry.

* * *

**_Journal Entry 3_ **

**_Village of Dek._ **

Astrid and Hiccup landed in a scene just outside the house. Both Catherine and Thanatos were there, playing with the two Night Furies. The rest of the villagers where inside their houses, so there was no one coming down from the village to check on them.

“They seem to be getting on well,” Astrid remarked, looking happily at the group.

“Of course … that’s what each and every one of the people that I’ve met like this has done,” Hiccup pointed out.

‘ _ **It has been two months since the two Night Furies landed in our field, and since then everything changed. I’ve seen and learnt more about dragons in the first few weeks than I ever would have in a hundred had I not met them. And I’ve seen and done things that Vikings could only dream of.’**_

Catherine and the male dragon tumbled around on the ground, Catherine giggling loudly. Thanatos and the female dragon both laughed as they watched the other two go at it.

‘ _ **I’ve grown attached to the dragon I helped. She is the most reliable and loyal friend I have on the island … apart from maybe Catherine. She, in turn, has also grown attached to the male Night Fury. They’re practically family now, and I think they feel the same. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have stayed behind. We decided to name the female Blackbolt, and the male Zaf.’**_

The memory changed to Thanatos flying through the air, riding atop Blackbolt.

‘ _ **I also got to do something that changed my view of dragons forever. I got to ride a dragon.’**_

“Woohoooo!” Thanatos howled as they zipped and zoomed through the floating rock formations under Dek. They swerved in and out of the way of the structures, sometimes barely skimming them as they whipped through at thunderous speeds.

‘ _ **Riding a dragon was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done, but unfortunately for Catherine, she’s only nine. Her flying could be incredibly dangerous, so she can’t experience this yet. But I have faith she will one day. Right now, it could mean her death, but not mine.’**_

“Whoa!” he shouted as they just missed a rocky arch stretching over from one formation to the next, Blackbolt rolling over so he wouldn’t get hit.

“Whew … that was close,” Thanatos sighed, before Blackbolt slaps his cheek with her ear.

“Ow … what was that for?” he asked as they zoomed towards a large stalactite that he hadn’t seen yet. Blackbolt noticed it and roared loudly, trying to get him to focus on where they are going.

“What is i- Oh no,” he said as he finally notices the stalagmite.

They both swerve to try and avoid the stalagmite, but they reacted too slowly. At the end of their routine, they both flew back home, each with a bruise over an eye.

Astrid stifled a giggle as she and Hiccup flew alongside human and dragon.

“I take it that didn’t happen with you,” Astrid said to Hiccup, trying to contain her laughter.

“Oh no … I got flung of Toothless’ tail and sent skimming over the water,” Hiccup replied, which resulted in Astrid bursting out in a laughing fit.

* * *

**_Journal Entry 4_ **

**_Thanatos’ House_ **

The next memory starts off with Thanatos and Blackbolt walking towards a staircase that led to the attic. Catherine was outside doing a few jobs, Zaf helping her out.

‘ _ **It’s now been around eight weeks since Blackbolt and Zaf landed in our field and we have fully accepted them as family. We have tried setting them free, but they didn’t want to leave. So now they stay with us, as one big happy family. Life was good, nothing was going wrong … until one day, when I went up to clean the attic.’**_

“This must be it …” Hiccup muttered.

“This must be what?” Astrid asked him.

“Remember when I said Catherine ran away from Thane?” he asked, Astrid nodding. “Well, I’d say whatever happened here sparked it all.”

Thanatos opened up the trapdoor in the ceiling and walked through, followed closely by Blackbolt.

‘ _ **I went up in the attic and, as expected, Blackbolt followed me up.’**_

Thanatos went to one side of the room while Blackbolt went to the other. They both started rummaging through the piles of stuff, picking out peculiarities that they spotted.

“Now be careful, Blackbolt,” Thanatos said, Blackbolt turning around to look at him with a head tilted. “A lot of this stuff is our parents’. We don’t want anything broken.”

Blackbolt rolled her eyes and continued searching.

‘ _ **I shuffled some more boxes around, before Blackbolt began growling and then pounced on something.’**_

“Blackbolt! What are you doing?!” Thane shouted as he watched Blackbolt pick something up and bring it over to him.

“What did you find?” he asked as she placed the items in his hands, holding a round object and a long, thin one.

‘ _ **They just seemed to be ordinary objects. The first was a strange large orb, radiating a warm presence. The second, however, was a long stick-like object, wrapped in covers, which stank with a deathly aura. Strangely, there was a note attached to it, addressing it to Catherine.’**_

Thanatos picked up the note and looked at it, showing Hiccup and Astrid that it was indeed addressed to Astrid.

‘ _ **It seems to have meant to be a gift to her, but unlike any gift I had ever seen before. I decided to stop my cleaning mid-way and examine them both before giving Catherine the item in question.’**_

Thanatos took both items back downstairs and analysed them carefully, though he didn’t remove the covers in case of any danger.

‘ _ **I had some serious doubts about giving it to my sister … until I saw who it was from. It was from our parents, slain in a dragon raid a few years back. Even though most of what we had were handed down from them, to have a gift was overwhelming. I figured that if it was from them, it wouldn’t be anything dangerous. I couldn’t wait to give it to Catherine …’**_

Thanatos looked out the window, where Zaf and Catherine were walking to their last chores.

‘… _**my first mistake …’**_

* * *

**_Journal Entry 5_ **

**_Thanatos’ House_ **

The memory morphs into one where all four of the household are inside, Catherine with the covered stick in her hands.

“What’s this?” Catherine asks, looking up at her brother.

“A gift,” he answered. “One from mum and dad.”

Her face lit up substantially as she began to tear apart the covers, showing no mercy to the fabric.

‘ _ **As I watched Catherine tear open the gift, I couldn’t help but think that our parents were secretly deranged.’**_

Catherine stared wide eyed at the item in her hands. Instead of being a stick, it was a four foot long katana, a cracked skull ornament on top of the hilt. Red diamonds studded the black hilt back and front. The blade looked cracked and broken, worn and chipped in many places, yet extremely sharp and strong. Thanatos unwrapped the orb, revealing a gem-like stone around the size of his head. Covering the stone were strange blue runes that neither Thanatos nor Catherine could understand.

“That’s the sword that Catherine uses now,” Hiccup said, looking at the katana.

“So this is how she got it,” Astrid remarked.

“What is that, brother?” Cat asked.

“I don’t know … but if it’s from mum and dad, then it must be important,” Thanatos answered.

Just as he finished speaking, the stone began to glow in a pale light, the runes lighting up bright. Both Zaf and Blackbolt began growling, glaring at the stone.

“What’s going on?” Cat asked fearfully, grabbing the katana and standing next to Zaf.

“I don’t know,” Thanatos answered as he leant closer to the stone.

‘ _ **I had absolutely no idea what the stone was capable of, or what it was. So I chose to investigate further … my second mistake.’**_

Just as Thanatos reached out and was about to touch the stone, it emitted a bright blue light, casting it towards us, that momentarily blinded Thanatos and Catherine. They both yelled as their dragons shrieked, taking up a defensive position. When it dispersed and they were able to see, a shadowy black mist rose out of the stone, forming in front of the four of them.

“ _I … am … FREE,”_ sounded a voice in the mist, chilling them all right to the bone, Astrid and Hiccup included. It solidified in front of them, becoming a frighteningly tall man with a black tattered cloak and fear-inducing armour.

“No … not him …” Hiccup whispered, his voice gone. Astrid clutched to him, frozen in fear.

“Who … who are you?” Thanatos sputtered weakly, making the dark man look at him.

“ _I am Death!”_ he announced, his voice literally sucking the life out of the room and leaving a cold despair in its wake. He then pointed at Thanatos. “ _And you … you are the blood of the pure.”_

“Blood of the what?” he asked, his voice gradually getting stronger.

“ _Ah … I forgot in the years sealed away … you puny humans contain no knowledge whatsoever. No matter … I have no more use of you.”_

With those words, Death grabbed Thanatos by the neck and hurled him through a wall. He smashed straight through, as if it was paper, and landed in a large pile of rubble near the wall of the next room. Thanatos coughed, his head spinning out of control as blood poured out of his forehead.

“THANATOS!” Cat screamed, Zaf and Blackbolt leaping at the man in anger at the strike.

With a mere flick of his wrist, Death deflected their double onslaught, spiralling them into another wall and breaking that one down. They got up wincing, keeping one paw off the ground and shaking their heads.

‘ _ **That strike did more to me than I thought it would. It broke one of my arms and about three of my ribs. Luckily, due to the strength of their scales, Blackbolt and Zaf received some bruises and one broken leg each.’**_

“ _You humans are pathetic … you can only take so much before you break completely,”_ Death chuckled evilly, eying the only remaining unharmed one in the room, Catherine.

“St-stay a-away f-from me …” Catherine stuttered, holding the katana shakily in front of her.

“ _Well, this is a rather odd spectacle,”_ Death mused. “ _A small child, wielding one of the most powerful weapons ever created. Come on then, child. Take your best shot.”_

Catherine roared out as she ran forward, swinging the ancient blade at the powerful man. He sidestepped the attack, laughing mockingly at the attempt. She swung again and again, each time missing or having the attack deflected before it reached its mark.

“ _Hahahahahah!”_ Death laughed. “ _A pathetic and feeble attempt.”_

He reached down and grabbed her throat, raising her feet off the ground as he tightened his hold. Thanatos regained his senses, bringing himself to look at his sister twice her height off the ground, slowly losing her breath.

“CATHERINE!” he shouted, watching in horror.

“ _Ha ha, let’s see how much this little one can take before her neck snaps,”_ Death said, slowly closing his grip on her.

“No! Catherine!” Hiccup shouted uselessly, Astrid watching in silent horror.

“Th-than-a-t-tos …” Catherine whispered as her life was slowly being choked out of her.

Thanatos looked in the eyes of his sister, seeing her life fading in front of him. He took some deep breathes, a sudden fire engulfing him and lighting his fury within.

‘ _ **I felt my anger swell within me, taking over and replacing my pain. I shot up and charged at Death, tackling him with my good arm, making him relinquish the hold on my sister and putting my life back in danger.’**_

“ _Get away from me, you insect,”_ he growled as he forced Thanatos off him before punching him in the chest, breaking another of his ribs.

Thanatos began coughing up blood, giving Death an opportunity to reach down and grab his throat, bringing him off the ground like he did with Catherine.

“ _Now you meet your end,”_ he growled, slowly crushing Thanatos’ windpipe as he struggled to get free of the iron grip, gasping for what air he could get.

‘ _ **While I was slowly dying, Catherine was letting her emotions consume her. She had grabbed the sword and it was reacting to her emotions’**_

Hiccup and Astrid tore their eyes from Thanatos and Death to look at Catherine. She was indeed overwhelmed by her feelings, tears springing from her eyes full of sorrow, fear and rage. A light grey light surrounded the katana, growing brighter the stronger her emotions got.

“Oh no … I’ve seen this before …” Hiccup whispered.

“When?” Astrid asked hoarsely.

“Just after we met her … she was still a bit unstable and … well, you’ll see.”

“LET GO OF MY BROTHER!” Catherine cried, closing her eyes as she swung the katana through the air, her emotions having been channelled in the sword and unleashing a grey energy slash, which charged towards Death.

“ _What?!”_ Death cried as he let go of Thanatos and jumped out of the way.

Thanatos landed and rolled to a safe distance from Death, now closer to Cat than the powerful man.

“ _So, you learnt how to use the Soul Cleaver,”_ Death said as he dove out of the way of another energy slash sent from Catherine.

She unleashed a third energy slash at Death, who stood still with a sense of confidence.

“ _Let’s see how you handle this,”_ he marked as he deflected the final energy slash back at Catherine, who was unable to move.

‘ _ **I could see that she wouldn’t have a chance to avoid her redirected attack, and that I only had moments to reach her.’**_

Hiccup and Astrid looked at Thanatos. He was looking at Catherine with fear in his eyes, but it was soon replaced with determination.

‘ _ **So I did what any good brother would do …’**_

Catherine was frozen, petrified as her own attack rocketed back towards her. But instead of the energy hitting her …

‘… _**I pushed her out of the way and took the attack.’**_

Thanatos shoved his sister out of the way at the last moment, putting himself in the direct firing line.

‘ _ **Time seemed to slow down in those final moments with Catherine …’**_

True to those words, the memory itself slowed down as well. Thanatos seemed to turn in mid-air as Catherine slowly fell to the ground.

“Br-brother …” she whispered with wide eyes as she looks at Thanatos. He gives flashes her a smile … the last smile Catherine would get to see him give.

The energy slash strikes Thanatos and engulfs him in a grey blast, surrounding him completely. But, instead of Thanatos flying out, two identical ‘Thanatos’ flew out in opposite directions. One flew beside Death, landing with a thud and a groan. The other flew across to the massive pile of rubble from the destroyed house, disappearing within the destroyed pieces.

“Brother!” Catherine cried with tears in her eyes as she ran over to the one half buried in wood, stone and furniture. Blackbolt and Zaf hobble over to him also.

“ _Hmm … this one is still alive,”_ Death notices as he looks at the one at his feet. “ _He could still be useful. Besides, I’ve got what I wanted anyway.”_ With that, he picked up the one at his feet and sprouted big black dragon wings, flying away from the destruction.

“Brother, hang on,” Catherine said as she pulled the rubble off his body, dragging him out of the pile.

Many wounds and gashes littered Thanatos’ body as he was dragged out. Zaf and Blackbolt looked sadly at the brother and sister. They cooed and purred at each other, before Zaf gently nudged Catherine off her brother. With her out of the way, with pity for him and gratitude for saving Blackbolt, they both breathed a slow blue flame over him. Catherine gave with a start before she noticed the wounds healing, and before long he woke up. All the wounds had been healed and disappeared, except one … a great big silver scar through his right eye.

“Ugh … what happened?” he groaned, rubbing his head.

“You were injured from the blast, Thanatos, but Zaf and Blackbolt healed you,” Cat answered with a sad smile.

“Thanatos? I’m not Thanatos … I’m Thane,” he replied, looking at Catherine strangely.

“Wha-what are you talking about, silly?” she said, laughing nervously. “You’re Thanatos, remember?”

“No … I’m pretty sure my name’s Thane. Why do you keep calling me that?” replied Thane.

“No … no, no …” Cat said, looking at her brother, if that’s what he still was, before breaking down on the floor. Zaf and Blackbolt hobbled over to Cat and tried to calm and comfort her, occasionally casting Thane a sad look.

With this final event fixed firmly in Astrid and Hiccup’s minds, the memory run finally comes to an end, the visions disappearing into nothingness and returning them to the real world.

* * *

**_Hiccup’s Tent, The Cove, Berk_ **

Hiccup and Astrid were relinquished from the journal, standing once more where they were before it sucked them in.

“Whoa …” Astrid said after a few moments of silence, both still trying to take in what happened.

“Yeah …” Hiccup said, still looking at the journal. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“So … I guess this means that Thane and Thanatos are the same person … right?” Astrid asked, slightly confused.

“For once, Astrid … I don’t know,” Hiccup moaned. “I don’t know what most of that meant right now.”

“Well then, maybe I can clarify for you,” said a familiar voice behind them. They both stiffened and slowly turned around, their eyes falling upon Thane leaning up against the pole in the centre of the tent, his arms crossed.

“Thane … they both said breathlessly.

“Uh … Thane, w-we d-didn’t mean to …” Hiccup stuttered, before Thane cut him off.

“You think you can steal my- no … _his_ journal, look at his secrets and get away with it unnoticed?” Thane asked icily, his steely gaze and cold yet fiery eyes fixated themselves on Astrid and Hiccup. Both were so frightened that they didn’t dare answer.

“I should tie you both up together, put you in a catapult and fire you at Death the moment he shows up in range,” Thane threatened, taking a step towards them and making them back up into the table.

Astrid was hiding slightly behind Hiccup, gripping tightly onto his hand and taking small, short breathes.

‘ _Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,_ ’ she thought. _‘Now because of me, Hiccup’s going to pay the price.’_

Thane glared at them for a bit, both fearing that their lives were now over, before his angered face melted, replaced by his calm, unemotional one.

“But I’m not going to,” he said, making both Astrid and Hiccup sigh in relief, unable to believe their luck. Hiccup ended up falling to the ground because of it, dragging Astrid down with him because of her vice grip. They both chuckled nervously at each other before turning back to Thane.

“Please tell me you’re not joking,” Astrid asked, still looking a bit scared.

“I’m not,” he replied, Astrid sighing again and slumping back against a table leg.

“I’m only going to explain what the journal didn’t,” Thane said, pulling up a seat and sitting down. “An hour or so after Death flew off and dear young Catherine stopped crying, she explained everything that happened. We then decided to leave Dek, as there was nothing else for us there. The villagers had by then found out about Blackbolt and Zaf as well, so that made our escape all the more difficult. We also decided that if we were going to leave, we would be taking most of our family’s belongings with us, which is when I found that journal sitting on your table in the remains of the attic.”

They both took a glance towards the tabletop before returning their look on Thane, who continued the story.

“As Catherine and I were flying away, we eventually dozed off somewhere over the waters. In our sleepiness, Blackbolt and Zaf managed to fly us to a cave on Dragon Island, the same that you met me in, Hiccup. When we woke up, we saw that we were lying in an ancient Dragonborn library. While in there, I learned all the knowledge of the Dragonborn and the stages of bonding, afterwards performing the final stage transformation on Catherine and myself. Cat bonded with Zaf, and I with Blackbolt. I also learnt what Death meant by ‘pureblood.’ It means the original Night Fury, the true son or daughter of lightning and death itself … or more specifically, our mother and father.”

Hiccup and Astrid’s eyes widened at this, but they politely waited for Thane to finish his story.

“This I know because I learnt how to speak Dragonese, before asking Blackbolt if she knew. I even tested my blood, and it was positive. But there is a problem associated with this. The pure blood was Thanatos, but when he split into the two pieces, Malthazar and myself, we each took half of the pureblood. Malthazar is the son of Death, while I am the son of Lightning,” Thane explained. “His personality and emotions were also split. I got his cold anger and calmness, but also his kind heart and mercy. Malthazar got the cheerfulness and excitement, but he is also cruel and vile. We can both channel our energy into our weapons like Cat does with her Soul Cleaver, me with my Sky Breakers, and Malthazar with his Spirit Slashers. Finally, the gifts. Cat’s weapon that our parents gave her is called the Soul Cleaver, as it can literally tear your soul in half like with Thanatos. Also, the stone is no ordinary magical stone. It is a prison designed to hold Death’s minions, think of a prison for lesser clones of Death.”

That last note stunned Hiccup and Astrid. They had seen what Death himself could do.

‘ _What could an army of Death clones do that one couldn’t?’_ Hiccup thought to himself.

“Why were they all imprisoned?” Astrid asked.

“Well, you wouldn’t want a bunch of magic-powered overlords, king slayers and tyrannical rulers roaming the world, now would you?” Thane asked.

“Point taken … but why not kill them as well?”

“Because that’s the one thing I haven’t found,” Thane moaned. “I don’t know how to kill them … at least without sacrificing yourself, though I do have a couple of ideas.”

“So that’s what Death is coming here for … he wants to free his minions,” Hiccup deduced. “You told me that he was here to kill us.”

“He was, and he still is,” Thane pointed out. “His main goal, on the other hand, will most likely have gone from killing us to freeing the other Deaths.”

“Well this has certainly made things more difficult,” Hiccup remarked, as they glanced towards the flaps of the tent, what seems like their inevitable deaths looming outside on the horizon.

“Well, that should be everything,” Thane said as he stood up, going over to the table and closing the journal. He then picked it up and walked out of the tent, but not before turning at the two still sitting at the base of the table.

“I don’t think I have to say this, but don’t mention what you saw or what I said to anyone,” he warned, a coldness settling in his eyes. “If you do, I may not be as forgiving as today.”

With that he left, the thought of what he could do if they said anything scaring them stiff. After a moment, they looked at each other and got up off the ground.

“Well, that was an interesting experience, wasn’t it?” Hiccup asked, chuckling slightly.

“It was,” Astrid agreed. “Now I know that next time someone wants to keep quiet about their past, I’m not going to pry. It’s not worth it.”

“True,” Hiccup laughed as he held the flap open for Astrid, letting her go out first.

“Unless, of course, it’s you,” Astrid said, giving Hiccup a sly grin.

“Well, m’lady, you will have to do a good job,” Hiccup joked, looking at the setting sun. “You’d best head back. It’ll get dark soon and people will be wondering where you’ve got to.”

Astrid looked sadly at the sunset, wishing that the day could last longer. “I guess you’re right,” she whispered before turning around and kissing Hiccup on the cheek, giving him a warm hug afterwards.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she whispered.

“Yeah … I’ll see you tomorrow,” he muttered, letting her go. He watched as she checked to make sure no one was watching before she ran out of the camp, taking the path out of the cove and heading back to Berk. He stayed watching where she went for a few seconds more before walking back into his tent, contemplating all that he had just found out. Unbeknownst to him or Astrid, someone was watching them … someone who was now fearful about what they now know.

‘ _So … Astrid’s plan succeeded,’_ Catherine thought, watching from the shadows of the cove. ‘ _She finally knows about my past … and she can go after me with that. And Hiccup knows too … I don’t know how to feel about that. I almost wanted him to know … but I wanted to tell him myself. Now I’m vulnerable … and I’m scared because of it. Oh, Thane, how could you be so careless?!’_

She walks out of the shadows and looks at Hiccup’s tent longingly.

‘ _Now … he’s the only one that can help me … I need to speak with him. He needs to understand …’_

Cat walked up towards Hiccup’s tent, but she froze just at the front of it. She began hesitating, doubting her decision.

‘ _No … no. I can’t do this … Yes, you have to … No, no, I can’t. I- I don’t want him to worry … He can help. He always does …’_

Her thoughts went back and forth like this until she managed to come to a decision.

‘ _Fine … I will tell him, but not now. I’ll do it soon …’_ she thought as she walked away, instead entering her tent and flopping straight onto her bed.

‘… _and then maybe I can tell him how I feel about him.’_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual blurb: all comments, suggestions, questions, etc. are welcome. Also on Tumblr @thorongil82 if you are that way inclined. Until next time.


	8. Dragon Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to Train Your Dragonborn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Was at a friend's 29th and was drinking. Though, not remotely enough to put me out so I've got energy to burn for my Spider-Man fic. Anyway, thanks for the new kudos and bookmark. Onwards!

**_Berk, Morning_ **

**_Third Person POV_ **

Thane had become very quiet since Hiccup and Astrid had found out about his past. He hardly ever spoke directly to people the couple of days that followed, only ever really speaking about Death’s whereabouts and conditions, and the progression of defences on Berk. The other Dragonborn were helping to prepare the Viking Island for invasion of the dark dragon swarm. Bomber had been particularly productive in supplying the Berkians with weapons. He worked with Spitshot and Spitfire to create deadly grenades capable of both explosive and shrapnel damage, able to bring down plenty of enemies at once. Death’s forces outnumbered theirs 100 to 1, so this would help break the storm. He also spent a lot of time working in the forge with Gobber, clanging and banging sounding out from the building. They were working on a secret weapon that Bomber had devised, known only as the _Sparrow Arrows_ , which only they know what it can do.

“Leave the artists to their work,” Bomber said with an excited grin whenever anyone came up to ask him what it was they were up to.

Terry was also doing a lot of unseen work for defence, using his skill in magic to set up enchanted traps in the air surrounding the village, each either causing significant damage or sending whoever trips them to Odin knows where. He warned all to not try and set them off, as they can be quite unpredictable and extremely dangerous.

The Vikings were shuffling around the town, either pulling off their usual duties or lugging weapons and equipment to various points on the island. Watching this was Hiccup, sitting down on a cliff overviewing the village, deep in thought of what’s yet to come. His mind troubled by the thoughts of what just a mere memory of Death could make him feel,

“Hiccup?” a soft female voice says behind him. He jumps in shock and turns around to see Catherine standing behind him, leaning up against a tree.

“Oh, Cat … it’s just you,” he says, offering a friendly grin.

“Did I startle you?” she said with a slight smile, slowly walking over and sitting down next to him.

“A little … yeah,” he admitted, looking closely at her. “I had some things on my mind.”

A slight nod was all the response she gave, choosing to look out over the village just like Hiccup was before. His gaze became concerned as he began to notice some things that seemed a bit out of place.

“Are you okay, Cat?”

“What?” she asked, smiling weakly. “Yes, of course I am. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you just seem to have become down all of a sudden. Like, something happened over the last couple of days that’s brought you asunder.”

Indeed, he had noticed darker rings around her eyes, and what looked like tear marks down her cheeks, as if she had been crying. Her hair was messier than she’d normally let it get, and her posture was slouched and closed off. Even her voice carried a tinge of sadness, soft and small, like a scared, shy child.

“I haven’t really seen you like this since we first met,” Hiccup remarked as he observed her.

“I … guess it just has to do with Thane,” she sighed, looking down at the ground. “He’s not like himself.”

“Yes, but I think he just has a lot on his mind.”

“Maybe …”

Hiccup took a thoughtful expression before wrapping his arms around her. She took a sharp breath, but relaxed almost immediately afterwards, leaning into him.

“Don’t worry about your brother, Cat,” Hiccup said softly to Catherine. “He’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Hic,” she whispered, both sitting together as the village bustles around below.

After a few seconds of silence, Catherine stands up and turns to face Hiccup, placing her hands on her hips and smirking at him. The young boy looked back up at her, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Come on, time to get up,” she said, some vigour returning. “The chief has called a meeting and it’s going to start soon. And we need to be there too.”

“What would my father want us all there for if the village is too?” Hiccup asked, getting on one knee and pushing up.

“I don’t know,” Cat admitted, looking towards the hall, “but my brother asked me to come and get you. He wants us all to walk in together.”

“That’s probably fair enough,” Hiccup responded. He and Cat walked down towards the hall, but before they could come into view Cat grabbed his hand, bringing him to a halt. She reached up and planted a kiss on his cheek, gazing into his eyes afterwards.

“It’s sweet that you’re concerned, Hic,” she spoke to him sweetly.

“You really need to decide if that’s a reward or a punishment,” Hiccup teased.

“Shut up, Hic. Otherwise it will be fists next time,” she laughed, raising one clenched fist in motion.

“Okay, I surrender,” he chuckled, throwing his hands up in the air.

Cat wrenched his arms down as they walked up to the entrance of the Great Hall. The rest of the Dragonborn were loitering around just outside. Natalie was eyeing up the grand statues, thinking of how she could climb up them quickly and efficiently. Draco was sitting close to her, looking over his hammer with pride. The twins tossed an empty grenade shell towards one another, bored out of their minds, with Terry watching on animatedly. Bomber looked annoyed, running ideas for his project over and over in his head. And Thane, he was standing in front of the hall doors, staring out over the sea and beyond the horizon.

“Wow. How did they get you and Gobber out of the forge?” Hiccup asked Bomber as he walked up to him.

“We threatened to toss in one of our grenades,” Spitfire said absentmindedly, spinning the shell on his finger before tossing it to his sister.

“I mean, he should know what they can do,” Spitshot continued, catching the shell and tossing it from one hand to the other.

“Don’t joke about things like that,” Bomber growled. “That is an extremely important piece in our defence.”

“So is the reason for this meeting,” Thane cut in suddenly, Draco and Terry jumping at the sudden voice of the leader. He looks down at the group, the look of experience and power returning to his eyes. “Are you ready?”

They all nod to Thane and walk up the stairs towards the doors, Thane waiting for them before he enters.

“Hey, just be glad the other twins weren’t involved,” Hiccup said to Bomber as he caught up with him, patting his arm. “You probably wouldn’t have had a forge left to work in.”

Thane pushes the massive doors open, striding into the hall with the rest of the Dragonborn. The chatter of the Vikings within quietens for the few initial seconds that they enter, all glancing or looking at the visitors. But they all go back to their conversations about the possible cause for the sudden meeting. The old Berk teens are all standing together on a pillar near the back, talking and hitting each other, specifically Ruff and Tuff engaging in their usual sibling fighting. Hiccup spots Astrid with them as the Dragonborn walk past near her. She sees him and gives a little wave to him, Hiccup returning it as his heart flutters slightly.

Stoick, seeing that everyone had arrived, walked up to the front and stood where all could see him. Spitelout, Gobber, Phlegma the Fierce and Elder Gothi stood just behind him and off to the side, none of them knowing what the meeting was for either.

“Order!” Stoick shouted, trying to get the talking to stop. “Order!”

The Vikings finish their conversations and look to their chief with curiosity.

“Now, you’re all probably wondering why I called you all here,” Stoick began, agreeing murmurs coming from the crowd. “Well, it wasn’t my idea to call this. These Dragonborn folk ‘ere are the ones who requested this, so I’ll let them take the floor.”

While Stoick stepped down from his position, the murmuring from the crowd rose in annoyance. The Dragonborn looked curiously at Thane, wondering what he meant by it.

“Just let me do the talking,” Thane sighed, glancing at them over his shoulder. “You’ll know what I mean shortly.”

Thane walked up to where Stoick was seconds before, the room silenced as the Vikings look to him, most glaring due to his peculiar traits. The rest of the Dragonborn shrug and walk slowly up to him, standing behind him.

“Thank you, Stoick,” Thane thanked as he faced the Vikings. “Now you may or may not know, but my name is Thane. These here are my companions, Natalie, Draco, Bomber, Terry, Spitshot, Spitfire, Catherine and Hiccup.”

The last name caused a lot of murmuring from the Berkians. Comments like “Why is _he_ here?” and “That traitor, siding with those devils,” could be heard within the low noise. Hiccup shook his head in slight disappointment and Catherine sighed, but both stayed quiet.

“We, or rather _I_ ,” Thane continued, looking at his companions, “would like to confirm a few things.”

“About time,” Snotlout grumbled, glaring at Thane. Tuffnut nodded at his words.

“Yes, there is a dark threat making its way to Berk,” Thane continued. “Now, truthfully, your defences and Viking strategies will most likely get you all killed in a few minutes, but-“

Thane was cut off by an uproar from the Vikings, angry and unconvinced. He stood unmoved as the Vikings yelled at each other and at him.

‘ _Way to put that bluntly, Thane,’_ Hiccup thought, sighing as he did so. Thane turning and glaring at him for an instance as if he knew exactly what he was thinking.

“SILENCE!” Stoick bellowed out over the noise, the Vikings going dead quiet in an instance but still glaring much more angrily at the Dragonborn leader.

“Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted,” Thane started again, seemingly unfazed, “You most likely won’t last long against the darkness. _However,_ there is a way for you to strengthen both your offence and defence.”

Murmuring and whispering began again, but this time much more curiosity than anger.

“Well, tell us your marvellous plan, _Sir Dragonborn,_ ” Mildew said with extra venom and sarcasm, hobbling with his staff in hand.

“The only way is for some of you to volunteer for our Dragon Training,” Thane announced, the eyes of all the Dragonborn apart from Hiccup going wide. They weren’t expecting that Thane was going to say that.

“If you are able to survive and complete that, then you all will have gained a powerful ally and friend to your village.”

With that, the dam fell apart. A torrent of yelling and shouting burst forth from the Vikings. Load cries of “You’re mad!” and “You’ll get us killed!” came like thunder from the crowd.

“SILENCE!!!” Stoick bellowed again, jumping up next to Thane and silencing the Berkians. “Now, one at a time, let’s start with-”

“Oi, ‘ow do you suppose we _train_ those man eating, fire breathing monsters that have killed hundreds of us?!” Mildew shouted, interrupting the chief with the roared backing of the village. “And besides, who would be mad enough to accept this death warrant?”

“Didn’t it ever occur to you all, that though they may have killed hundreds of you, that you’ve massacred thousands upon thousands of them?” Hiccup fired back, stepping forward in front of Thane and Stoick. He looked across the whole crowd with determination, Mildew getting the gaze dead in the eye. “Don’t you think that what we do to them is worse than what they did to us?”

“They‘ve stolen our food! Our livestock! Explain that!” one of the Vikings shouted from the back of the hall.

“They stole because they had to,” Hiccup answered, addressing everyone. “They were forced to by the giant dragon within Helheim’s Gate-“

“That thing that washed up here?” some of the Vikings murmured to one another, which Hiccup overheard.

“Wait, you saw it?”

“Its’ carcass,” Stoick explained to his son. “It washed up dead on our shore, along with your saddle and vest. We knew you had done what you said you would in your letter, but we thought you were dead because of it.”

“Oh … well … anyway …” Hiccup stammered, trying to recover, “the only reason that they stole was in self-defence. If they hadn’t, they would’ve died. Did you never think about what you were killing before you committed?”

A lot of the Vikings looked down in shame at his little speech, remembering what it was that Hiccup achieved working with their self-appointed devils.

“Well, besides that, who do you really think has the sanity to train with dragons?” Mildew spoke, audible to all in the room.

‘ _I really hate that old grouch,’_ Hiccup thought angrily as he glared at Mildew. Thane’s hand on his shoulder calmed him down a little.

“I’ll join,” came a young voice from the back. The Vikings parted around the voice so all could see who it was.

Astrid stood in the empty space, her hand up in the air from the moment she spoke. The Vikings spoke in complete surprise, while Hiccup gave a start. No one expected that she was going to volunteer.

“Yes! Finally another female,” Natalie whispered.

“You, Astrid?” Stoick said, also surprised by her notion.

“Yeah, well, I might as well give it a shot,” Astrid said, putting down her hand and shrugging off everyone’s shock.

“Very well,” Thane said, accepting Astrid’s choice. “Any other volunteers?”

“Well, if Astrid’s gonna try, then we’re all in too!” Snotlout shouted, walking up next to her and gesturing to Fishlegs and the twins.

“Well … that’s unexpected. But, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Astrid will participate as volunteers for Dragon Training for the sake of defending our village,” Stoick announced. “Are there any further subjects of matter?”

His question was met with the silence of the Vikings.

“Very well. Meeting adjourned.”

The Dragonborn quickly disappeared as soon as those words were said, taking advantage of the attention that the volunteers had now garnered. Most of the Vikings hurled questions towards Astrid, asking why she volunteered and what was going through her mind. And they all got the same reply from her. She ignored them and pushed her way through the crowd and out the Great Hall.

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

Astrid walked through the village until she came up to the arena. She could see the Dragonborn were off to the side and near the cage. Some were watching for the volunteers, while the rest were talking with each other.

‘ _I guess that I should go over to them,’_ Astrid thought as she started to walk to them.

“Congratulations, Astrid. You’re the first one here,” Hiccup said suddenly just behind Astrid, making her jump in surprise.

“Oh! Jeez … Er, well, you know …” she stuttered as she turned to him, caught off guard by his stealthy movement. “I had some time … so I-I thought I’d come straight here.”

“Well, we all thought that it would be best that I train you all, at least for today. Is that alright?” Hiccup asked with a warm smile.

“Uh … y-yeah … that’s cool. That’s … sure,” she stammered.

‘ _Thor damn it, I hate that smile. It always makes me act like a fool,’_ Astrid thought, mentally face-palming herself for her actions.

“Don’t look now, the others have come,” Hiccup pointed out to her.

Sure enough, as she turns around, she hears the voices of her friends and spots them almost immediately afterwards.

“Hey, Astrid!” Fishlegs shouted as he ran over, waving a large arm above his head.

“You ready for the craziest thing that we’ve ever done?!” Ruff exclaimed excitedly, bouncing on the spot.

“Uh, yeah … I guess so,” Astrid replied, rubbing her arm nervously.

“What’s the matter, ‘Strid?” Snotlout mocked. “Terror got your tongue?”

“Hey!” Terry shouted from within the Dragonborn, all but Thane laughing at the remark. Bomber ruffled Terry’s hair and picked him up off the ground, the boy pretending to pout. The Berk youth took no notice of this.

“No, it’s just … well …”

“What, Astrid?” Ruff asked, a little concerned.

“Well-”

“Welcome, everyone, to Dragon Training!” Hiccup called out from the arena entrance, cutting off Astrid.

‘ _Wait, wasn’t he standing in front of me just before?’_ Astrid wondered as they turned to face him.

“I know that you’re probably thinking that this is crazy, or that you’re all going to die.”

“Yeah!” the twins cheer as they head butt each other.

“Well, you couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Hiccup said, walking into the shadows of the entrance and disappearing.

“Whoa, were did Useless go?” Snotlout asked, the others shrugged and looked all over for him.

“He must be too scared to face us,” Tuffnut shouted, trying to flex and look strong.

“Actually, I’m right here,” Hiccup whispered in his ear, Tuff yelling in surprise as he jumped back. He tripped up, arms flailing in the air, before coming down on his back.

“Wow, he is good,” Tuff said, straightening his helmet and kicking back up to his feet.

“How did you do that, Hiccup?!” Fishlegs exclaimed in excitement, arms shaking as he bounced from one foot to the other.

“Trade secret,” he smirked as he walked to the entrance, motioning for them to follow him. “Come on, let’s get started.”

The twins shrug at each other and follow him in, followed closely behind by Fishlegs, Snotlout and finally Astrid. They stand in the centre of the arena, almost exactly like they did 8 years ago, except that Hiccup was standing where Gobber was and that no weapons were present in the arena. The Dragonborn leaned up against the bars above, looking down at the group.

“Oh, this is going to be good,” Spitfire grinned, smiling devilishly at his twin.

“Now, normally we would take you to Dragon Island to pick your dragons,” Hiccup explained as he paced almost like how Gobber did with them. “But, under the circumstances, we’re going to have to use the dragons in these cages. And unfortunately, these ones most likely hate your guts. Also, we have taken the liberty of removing all weapons from inside, just in case any of you get tempted.”

“Tempted to do what?” Fishlegs asked, but was ignored by Hiccup, who walked up to one of the cages and placed his arm on the lever.

“Alright, who’s up first?”

“I will. May as well go first and get the best,” Snotlout said smugly, strutting forwards and swinging as he stepped. All the girls sighed in annoyance at his actions.

“And I thought Draco was bad,” Natalie said to Spitshot. “He might have met his match.”

“I thought you’d say that,” Hiccup grinned sadistically. “In that case, I have the perfect dragon for you.”

The nature of his grin and the tone in his voice creeped the Berkians out, all running to the walls of the arena apart from Snotlout, who took a step back.

“Say hello to your dragon, Hookfang!”

Hiccup pulled down the lever, releasing the fire red Monstrous Nightmare from his cage. He burst forth wrapped in flame, roaring and diving for the now frightened Snotlout.

“Wait! I’ve changed my mind!” Snotlout yelled as he ran away, trying to escape from the Nightmare.

“Have fun!” Hiccup called out to Snotlout as he leaned against the wall next to the lever he just pulled, crossing his arms over his chest. The Dragonborn are all supporting themselves on the bars as they are doubled over in laughter, apart from Thane who may very well have had the ghost of a smile on his face.

This antic went on for a while, Snotlout running and screaming as the Nightmare kept trying to lunge and swipe at him. Everyone in the arena apart from Thane was laughing their heads off. After a bit, Hiccup became tired of the chase and started trying to help Snotlout.

“Snotlout!” he shouted, cupping his hands to his mouth.

“WHAT?!” his cousin shouted as he dove out of the way of a blast of fire.

“As surprisingly as this is to me, I’ve grown tired of watching you run around like this. So I’ll give you a tip. Stop running and try to calm Hookfang down.”

“And just how in Hel’s name am I supposed to do that?!”

“Just stop running and put your hand out towards him.”

Snotlout looked at Hiccup as if he was crazy, but listened to the instructions. He slid to a stop and held his hand out towards the Nightmare, clenching his eyes closed in fear. The Nightmare also skidded to a stop a mere few inches from Snotlout’s hand, surprised by the halt of the chase. He curiously sniffed the hand before turning to Hiccup.

“ _Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t bite his hand off right now, Dragonborn,”_ Hookfang growled at Hiccup.

“ _Because if you do, you’ll lose your best chance at freedom,”_ Hiccup replied back in Dragonese.

Hookfang’s eyes widen, before the pupils turn back to slits.

“ _And why should I risk becoming this …_ _Viking’s_ _pet?”_ Hookfang asked with venom.

“ _Would you rather be out in the skies or back in the cage?”_ Hiccup asked, getting a bit irritated. “ _He won’t hurt you while any of the Dragonborn are here.”_

“… _Fine. I trust the Dragonborn. So I’ll play along … for now,”_ he growled, a touch of his pride dented as he inched his snout closer and closer to the hand, until he makes contact with Snotlout’s skin.

“H-hey, I-I did it!” Snotlout exclaimed happily, his face lighting up in glee.

“Good job, Snotlout,” Hiccup said, rolling his eyes.

“ _I promise. You won’t regret this, Hookfang,”_ Hiccup reassured the Nightmare, earning a glare out of the slit of his eye.

“ _We’ll see, Dragonborn,”_ he growled menacingly.

“Alright, who’s next?” Hiccup asked as he turned to face the others, only to be met with a rush as they all clamour to be the next ones to get their dragons.

‘ _This is going to be rough,’_ Hiccup thought as he decided on the order of who to receive their dragon when.

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

**_Midday_ **

Over the next hour, Hiccup managed to get everyone acquainted with a dragon. Snotlout, obviously, had the Nightmare called Hookfang, growling in a simmering anger since it happened. Fishlegs was next, and also the easiest. He got the female Gronckle called Meatlug, who settled down quite easily and smothered him in an almost motherly fashion. He was also allowed quickly onto her back, which Hiccup was somewhat surprised that she was able to hold him up, considering his size and build.

The twins got the Zippleback called Barf and Belch. The main event in the chase beyond was the twins twisting the necks around each other in a spiral, collapsing to the ground. They cheered and high-fived each other, celebrating until the heads untwisted. During the unwrapping, the heads slammed into each of the twins, sending them flying and slamming into the walls of the arena. The twins managed to get the dragon under control … somehow … Ruff taking the gas head, Barf, and Tuff taking Belch, the sparking head.

Astrid took a little while to get her dragon. A sky blue female Nadder called Stormfly came out for her, firing spine after spine at the Viking girl in an attempt to impale her. Astrid rolled and dodged out of the way of all the shots, but they were getting closer and closer to their mark. Hiccup eventually had to help calm Stormfly down and help them bond together.

“Thank you,” Astrid whispered to Hiccup, embarrassed because she thought that she could do so on her own.

After some final fireballs and snickering from nearly all of the Dragonborn, Hiccup managed to get them all in a neat line with Vikings atop their chosen dragons.

“Now you have all picked and received your dragon, but how good are you at training them?” Hiccup asked them all, receiving blank or confused looks in return.

“Hmm … Maybe a demonstration is in order,” he muttered, rolling up the sleeve on his black tunic and revealing the Night Fury tattoo on his arm. The Vikings look at it in shock and awe.

“Since when did you get a tattoo, Hiccup?” Fishlegs asked.

“Well, it’s so much more than a tattoo, Fish,” Hiccup said before chanting a spell in ancient Dragonese.

“ _We formed a bond long ago,_

_To form unto one body and soul alone._

_Now I call upon to me,_

_The dragon that rests within me._

_TOOTHLESS!”_

The mist enveloped his arm like before, surrounding it all in a white haze. As it dissipated, the tiny Night Fury that was Toothless resting in her palm. Everyone gaped at the dragon, Astrid almost squealing in delight.

“ _Hey, Hiccup,”_ the Night Fury said, looking at his rider. “ _What are y-aah! People!”_

“ _Don’t worry, bud,”_ Hiccup said reassuringly. “ _I’m just training them. I need you to help me.”_

“ _Sure, anything you need.”_

“ _Can you change back to full size?”_

There is a lot of energy required when a Dragonborn summons their dragon back to the physical world. A fully bonded dragon being re-summoned takes even more energy, the main reason why Dragonborn will rarely do it.

“ _Sure, just give me a sec.”_

The white mist withdrew back to his palm, building up around Toothless. Soon, the Night Fury was swallowed up by the mist as it formed into the shape of a ball. All the Vikings and their dragons watched on with interest. Hiccup then threw the mist ball into the air, the ball growing and taking shape into a creature. It spontaneously combusted with a blue flame, a black Night Fury falling out of the fire and onto the arena floor. The dragons and Vikings jumped back at the sudden appearance, the Night Fury walking cautiously as he eyed the trainees. A few seconds after his appearance, Hiccup felt a burning sensation in his chest as part of his soulfire was consumed, though he did not show it. Toothless looked slightly concerned at him, being able to feel his pain through their bond.

“ _Are you alright?”_

“ _Yeah, I’m fine.”_

“Wow! I’ve never seen one up close before!” Fishlegs exclaimed, running up and inspecting Toothless closely. “Well, apart from when you arrived, Hiccup.”

“ _Uh … Hiccup?”_ Toothless warbled nervously. “ _Can I blast him? He’s creeping me out.”_

“ _Relax, Toothless,”_ Hiccup chuckled. “ _Don’t hurt my friends.”_

“So this is the dragon you bonded with,” Astrid said almost breathless.

“Yeah, but I brought Toothless out for a different reason,” Hiccup explained, the riders and dragons looking at him.

“I brought him out to show you how to train your dragon.”

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

**_Late Afternoon_ **

For the next five hours, Hiccup gave the volunteers a rundown of the things that he and the other Dragonborn knew about dragons. He told them about the different types and species they knew of, their strengths and weaknesses, how to calm them down, and some basic training techniques. A fair few times, Hiccup had to help put someone’s behind out after they received a small burning from making a mistake that their dragons didn’t like, much to the delight of the Dragonborn. They were having a really good time watching the trainees struggle to befriend their dragons. After a couple of explosions, Hiccup managed to get the dragons to let the Vikings ride them.

“Alright, now that you’re all on your dragons, it’s time to fly!” Hiccup announced, grinning widely.

‘ _Oh no … This is not going to end well,’_ Astrid thought as Stormfly carried her out of the arena, followed by the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout. Hiccup walked out last of all, Toothless plodding along next to him.

The Dragonborn walked away from their viewpoint and walked up to the trainees, one Dragonborn going to each Viking. Bomber came over to Fishlegs, Spitshot and Spitfire to Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Draco to Snotlout and Natalie to Astrid. They all spoke briefly with the dragons, rubbing their snouts and giving them a scratch along their scales. Catherine stood out of the way with Thane, both with their arms folded over their chests, while Terry went into the arena and played around with the Terrible Terror still in its cage.

“Okay, now the trick to flying a dragon at this stage is that you’re in control,” Hiccup lectured as he paced slowly in front of them.

“Of course. We need to show these dragons who’s boss,” Snotlout said smugly, earning a fierce glare from Hookfang. Draco hissed a few words to him, settling the Nightmare down somewhat.

“However, you’re dragons are also in control,” Hiccup continued, drawing confused looks from the trainees.

“Huh?” they all voiced.

“What do you mean?” Astrid inquired.

“It’s like this. If you’re too aggressive, then the dragon won’t respond and might toss you off. If you’re too soft on it, then they’ll take control and toss you off as well.”

“Oh, great. So, if we’re mean, we fall to our doom. If we’re nice, we fall to our doom,” Ruff summed up, looking somewhat indifferent.

“That’s pretty much it,” Hiccup confirmed. “Just show some assertiveness, but also let the dragon do what it wants to. Don’t worry too much about falling. One of us will help you if you do end up falling. Just work on getting the connection right with you and your dragon.”

The Dragonborn standing next to the pairs transformed into their dragon forms, hence why each one stood where they were. Each one took the same respective species that they were, standing ready to take off with the others.

“Okay, ready …” Hiccup said, the dragons rearing to go. Stormfly in particular was very eager to get back in the skies, jittering around as she looked up into the air.

“… Set … Go!”

With a sudden powerful flap and whoosh, the trainees and their dragons shot up into the air. The Vikings screamed and yelled with fright and exhilaration at the speed, the dragons racing up with eagerness to fell the bliss of flight again.

“OH GODS!!” Astrid screamed as Stormfly sliced through the air.

The groups kept running into each other and the rocky walls around the islands, trying to find the right level of balance between them and their dragons. They were all very surprised that their respective dragons hadn’t thrown them from their backs yet, though the constant hissing and clicking from the Dragonborn did play a part in that. Most of the next half hour was them trying to calm down their dragons and get the control they needed, finally flying in a normal fashion. Hiccup saddled up with Toothless and took to the skies round the time that they managed to gain control. He zoomed around to each of the teams, observing how they were going and just how much work the Dragonborn were subtly doing to keep it working. He flew over to Astrid last of all.

“This is awesome!” she yelled as she looked down at the village, Natalie squawking affirmatively at her comment.

“So you like what you see?” Hiccup asked her as he dropped down beside her, Toothless keeping pace with Stormfly.

“I do,” she nodded, taking in all around and below her. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know,” Hiccup said, looking down on Berk with care in his eyes. “I never get tired of seeing villages like this. This feeling, the peace and tranquillity, this is what it means to be free.”

Astrid looked at Hiccup as he said this. She saw the love and care in his eyes for his homeland, surprising her considering all that they had done in her. She saw a strong man, someone capable of defeating any obstacle in his path, even perhaps able to face the gods themselves. Grown, matured, a much more handsome figure than before. But she could also see that young, smart, stuttering, cute teen that she knew back when they could say things were normal.

‘ _All right, stop thinking like that, Astrid,’_ she scolded herself, blushing at her thoughts. ‘ _Yo-You’re Astrid a-and he … he … he- Oh, face it. He’s handsome! He’s charming! And you love him!’_

“Astrid? Are you okay?” Hiccup asked, tilting his head with concern in his eyes. He thought from how she was looking that something was wrong.

“What? Oh … um, y-yes, I’m fine,” Astrid stammered, his words breaking her out of her trance.

She turned her head away from him in embarrassment, hoping that he didn’t see her blush. Stormfly tilted her head back and looked at her with a wide beady eye, squawking with curiosity.

“Alright then,” Hiccup said, whispering something into Toothless’ ear.

The Night Fury fired a plasma blast into the sky, signalling to the Dragonborn. They help guide their trainees towards Hiccup.

“Time to land, guys,” Hiccup instructed. His instruction was met with disappointed groans from the Vikings.

“Don’t worry, we’ll continue again tomorrow.”

With that, the Dragonborn in the air helped to direct the volunteers down, keeping things steady as they land with their dragons.

(Line Break)

_Training Arena, Berk_

_Evening_

Toothless was lying down near the cages of the arena after everyone had left. Hiccup had said some final comments to the excited Vikings and settled the dragons back into their cages for now, and had just walked back over to his best friend and sat down, leaning against the black scales of Toothless.

“You know what, bud? It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken,” Hiccup remarked, getting himself comfortable.

“ _What do you mean? We talk all the time,”_ Toothless said, looking at his other half.

“I mean in person. You know, face-to-face. Whenever we normally talk, you’re always so … well, so …”

“… Small?”

“Yeah, small,” Hiccup agreed, looking at his dragon’s face. He sighs and leans back.

“Everything’s been so crazy. When I met you, my whole world was turned on its head-”

“ _You’re welcome.”_

Hiccup smirked at the remark and continued, rubbing Toothless’ snout absentmindedly.

“Then we left Berk and killed the Red Death, before Thane found us. Before long we had become Dragonborn, and had gone and found the others.”

“ _They became our family,”_ Toothless admitted.

“And now we’re back. We’re back where it all began,” Hiccup said, ending his reminiscing. “I never thought we’d ever come back here. And now, here we are.”

“ _Our lives are incredibly crazy,”_ Toothless admitted, shaking his head in amusement.

“ _So … you’ve found your mate again, eh?”_ Toothless warbled slyly, shooting a teasing look in Hiccup’s direction.

“A-Astrid? W-we’re not mates. We’re just friends,” Hiccup stammered nervously, blushing slightly at the dragon’s words.

“ _Sure … and I have a wife on the moon.”_

“Shut up,” Hiccup said grumpily, punching Toothless’ leg.

“ _Oh, but what about your other mate?”_ Toothless teasingly cooed, trying to look innocent.

“C-Catherine? I’m not mates with her either!”

“ _But she’s always so nice with you.”_

“She’s nice with the others as well,” Hiccup defended.

“ _But mostly with you,”_ the Night Fury persisted.

“Stop it,” Hiccup growled, turning his head away and facing the other wall. Toothless, with an unamused look, stretched up and flattened Hiccup. He groaned under the Night Fury’s body, head rolling around. Toothless started poking at his body with his head, Hiccup laughing under the touches.

“O-Oka-Okay, T-Toothless! St-stop it! Stop it!” Hiccup laughed as he managed to escape his friend’s clutches, standing back up on his feet. Toothless lies back down and Hiccup takes up his seating position again.

“Hey, bud? If I can change into a dragon, can you change into a human?” Hiccup asked the Night Fury.

“ _We’ve been Dragonborn for eight years and you still don’t know that?”_ Toothless asked. “ _Come on … it works for you, but not for me. How does it feel anyway, turning into me. That’s the only time that I can’t sense what you feel, because my senses are dulled then.”_

“Well, it kinda feels like you get mashed up and reformed, so it hurts a little,” Hiccup responded. “But less each time.”

“ _Okay, good to know,_ ” Toothless replied.

They talked together for a while, until the skies started to glow orange with the sun setting into the sea.

“You know, it’s been a while since we’ve been flying with me on your back,” Hiccup said, looking up at the rosy sky.

“ _Do you want to go flying?”_ Toothless purred, one eye opened up higher than the other as if he had raised an eyebrow.

“Do you really need to ask?” Hiccup grinned as he jumped to his feet, leaping onto the saddle as soon as Toothless gets to his feet. A moment of them fighting the Red Death flashes in their mind, before Toothless hurtles out of the ring and into the darkening sky.

They zig and zag all over the island, flying over the village and the Dragonborn camp. The Dragonborn all look up when the roar of a Night Fury sounds out from above, only to see Hiccup and Toothless flying upside-down overhead. Hiccup, with a cheerful smile on his face, sends a mocking salute to Thane before they speed out of sight.

‘ _Good ol’ Hiccup,_ ’ Toothless thinks to himself as he shakes his head.

They spend another hour flying around the island, flying through the caverns and in between the sea-stacks. When night falls and the multitude of stars twinkle far above them, they touch back down in the camp and transformed back into one entity before heading into their tent and falling asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more pre-written chapter to go. Usual deal, please comment any thoughts, suggestions, criticism, etc. Also on Tumblr @thorongil82 if that's easier, or if you'd like to chat or something. Whatever works. Happy to answer whatever's on your mind. Until next time.


	9. Reinforce the Guard?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sudden strike calls together a meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the new kudos and to noirfuryxx for reblogging the upload of the last chapter on Tumblr. I'll have some things to say at the end of this, but until then, onwards!

**_Raven’s Point Summit, Berk_ **

**_Dawn_ **

Raven’s Point stretches high into the skies above Berk, adorned with numerous ledges jutting out from the mountainside. The slopes rise steeply at a level that is impossible for Vikings and mammals to climb, the numerous ledges jutting out of the rock and the flattened peak only reachable by the wings of birds, dragons and insects. The land that is capable for nature’s touch to grow and bloom teams with luscious green grass, thick bushes filled with thorns and berries and oak and fir trees that reach higher and higher as if in a contest for supremacy. Soft chirps and whistles of birds and crickets fill the air, too quiet to be heard from the Berkian port built into and protected by the base of the mountain.

Thane walks slowly across the peak, taking in the peaceful environment around him. His mind a clutter of thoughts as he sits upon the smooth rocky edge with his legs draped over the ledge, the vast stretches of the Archipelago lay before the veteran Dragonborn. Countless questions swam through his consciousness as a breeze stirred, along with the ever constant presence of Black Death and his arrival, his next move and how to best implement the Vikings of Berk into the defence of the isle and the aide of silencing the ever-growing poison that is their foe.

‘ _Even with Berk on our side, no matter how dedicated, we are still horribly outnumbered,’_ Thane ponders, gazing ever off into the distance towards Helheim’s Gate. _‘Death is on our doorstep and they aren’t ready. What else is missing? What else would give us the chance we need to cut the head off the snake?’_

The tiny growls of a dragon emanate from a rustling bush. From within crawls out a small Razorwhip, still only a babe, yawning and stretching as it wakes up to a new day. It blinks a few times, looking from side to side, before spotting Thane and bumbling over to him.

‘ _Hiccup and Astrid too now know of the past, the knowledge that could be very dangerous. Despite the sudden interest of those youth in dragons and the bonding with them, they won’t be ready and it won’t be enough. Can they be trusted to keep on this path? Do they have what it takes to be there for each other?’_

The baby Razorwhip sidles up next to Thane and rubs its head against his leg, crooning up at him before curling up next to him.

“A Razorwhip … now that’s interesting,” Thane murmurs as he strokes a hand along the baby dragon. “ _You’re not here alone, are you?”_

The baby Razorwhip peers curiously up at him.

“Maybe you can’t speak yet …” Thane sighs. “Although … you may have given me an idea-”

The sudden rapid snapping of branches and trunks alert Thane to the presence of another presence. As he turns around and gets to his feet, a toxic black and purple Monstrous Nightmare bursts into the clearing, roaring in a fury. The baby Razorwhip cowers and wraps its wings around it whilst Thane draws his tempest blades.

The Nightmare erupts into a dark flame and lunges, the limbs flailing in a berserk rage. Thane raises his swords to clash, until a big grey blur slams into the onrushing charger. The Nightmare is thrown to the side, rolling and tumbling along the grass. As it rises up again as if possessed, the interceptor, an adult Razorwhip, spreads its wings wide in an intimidating stance, screeching at the Nightmare.

“ _Get out of here!”_ Thane bellows at the Razorwhip. “ _You’re just going to get hurt!”_

“ _I will not let anyone harm my young!”_ The Razorwhip, a female, screeches back, glancing towards her terrified child.

The Nightmare, spotting the Razorwhip’s split concentration, unleashes a tainted flame from its mouth towards the dragon. The mother instinctively puts her metallic wings in front of her in order to shield from the fire.

“ _No, don’t!”_ Thane warns.

The dark flame sears into the metallic wings, flaring out around the mother. At first, it seemed as if the dragonfire would have no effect on the Razorwhip. But then, the Razorwhip roared in pain as the heat grew greater and the wings began glowing red and black as the dark flames burnt through the great armoured scales of the Razorwhip.

‘Electricity won’t help here …’ Thane thought as he sheathed his blades, running forwards and exhaling grey flames around, engulfing him.

The dark flames quickly burn their way through the wings of the mother. She gives an ear-splitting screech in pain before the fire envelops her, knocking her to the ground. The Nightmare ceases its fiery breath and lunges to throttle the neck of the Razorwhip, but is instead met head on with the sudden incinerating plasma blast from Thane, now in the heavily scarred form of his dragon, Blackbolt. The Nightmare is thrown to the ground as the veteran Night Fury stands over the body of the wounded Razorwhip. Thane strides forwards, snarling at the Nightmare gingerly getting back up. The tainted reptile has smoke rising from its face due to its own fire and the impact of Thane’s plasma blast, its eyes rolled back into its skull with red veins around the edges.

“ _That … Nightmare … u-unatural …”_ the Razorwhip hissed, struggling to even raise her head. The holes in its wings still are edged in fire like metal in a forge, black wavy veins and tendrils spreading throughout her from the small shield-sized wounds in her wings.

“ _Rest,”_ Thane urges her, powering up another plasma blast. “ _Save your strength.”_

The Nightmare shoots a fireball at Thane’s feet. The Night Fury Dragonborn rolled, dodging to the left and firing again, striking the body of Death’s minion and collapsing it once again. It hisses and roars, rising up again with a mix of seething rage and undead dread, spreading its wings to take off. The ghastly white gaze falls upon that of cold fury from Thane who fires three rapid shots, grounding the minion. It then flares up, wrapping itself in a contaminated and rushing at Thane. The Dragonborn flies up and over the Nightmare who takes the advantage to launch itself into the air, flapping furiously to flee and get back to Death.

“ _Get back here!”_ Thane roars, speeding off after the lone scout with a vengeance.

They fly away from Berk, soaring over sea stacks stretching out from the island. Thane quickly makes up what distance there was between the two due to the injuries sustained during the shot exchange on top of Raven’s Peak.

‘At least one more shot left …’ Thane remembered. ‘Let’s make it count.’

The Night Fury ascends higher before diving down, cutting through the air like a knife. The faint whistling as the air is split around him alerts the Nightmare who rolls over to face upwards, opening its mouth and firing a stream of corrupted fire straight at Thane. He spreads his wings, slowing him down just enough to adjust and barrel roll out of the way, tongues of fire missing the black scales of the Dragonborn by a hairs length. Coming out of the spin, Thane fires his last shot at the vulnerable Nightmare. The plasma blast slams into the underside of the Nightmare, catching the dragon and sending it crashing down into the flat top of a large sea stack with a painful howl.

Thane lands on the sea stack accompanying the grounded Nightmare, with its wings, legs and head flailing around weakly in a pitiful attempt to roll back right-side up. The Night Fury breathes out his grey flame, enveloping and transforming him back into his human form. Drawing one of his tempest blades from its sheath, he walks over to the fallen dragon.

“ _What is your purpose here, servant of Death?”_ Thane snarls, fixing the Monstrous Nightmare with a cool gaze.

The Nightmare, its struggling getting ever weaker, gives no response. Its white empty eyes give no signs of any other life inside save for the darkness that has corrupted the being, contorting its very soul to a decaying state.

“ _Why were you up on that mountain? Are there any other minions that were sent with you?”_

Again, no response comes from the dragon as it now ceases to struggle and flail. The only signs of life remaining inside the shell are the heaving of the torso and the rasping of breathes as air is inhaled and exhaled. Thane sighs and walks away towards the nearest edge of the large, round sea stack.

“ _I am the Dragonborn your master wants out of the way. You are no assassin. You wouldn’t have been sent alone for that purpose. You’re just a scout sent to spy on Berk, to see its defences and to find the stone.”_

He turns around and looks at the Nightmare, his face returned to its normal stoic, unemotional state of expression.

“ _You will not find it now. Not now that you diverted your attention to me. Now pass peacefully, honour the life of the soul you have corrupted, for a more painful death would’ve been gifted to you by Death. After all, oblivion is the fate of all things. But you cannot kill me. Not now.”_

“ _Ignorant … slug …”_ the Nightmare rasps as Thane makes to turn away and transform. “ _He comes … s-sooner … than … you think … Your trap … did not … set him back … nearly enough …”_

Thane turns back to face the downed dragon, gripping the handle of his blade tighter. Storm clouds begin to swirl overhead, answering the call of the drawn tempest blade.

“ _Vikings … too weak … Not enough defence … Son of … Lightning …”_ the Nightmare hisses, its head tilting around as it stares lifelessly at Thane. “ _No one … will survive … Darkness … will reign …”_

With that the Nightmare suddenly unleashes a blackened flame towards Thane. The Dragonborn tuck and rolls out of the way, before using a lightning strike to counter the following fire stream which results in an explosion. The smoke spreads out, clouding both combatants from being able to see one another. A third fire blast comes in swift and scorching, seen late by Thane due to the grey smoke from the explosion. Thane draws energy from the storm clouds overhead and brings his blade slashing up in front of him, another lightning strike countering the blast just in front of him. The resulting explosion throws Thane back, tumbling and tossing over the edge of the sea stack.

“ _As you … said yourself … Dragonborn …”_ the Nightmare hisses, its head dropping down onto the flat rock that it lays upon, “ _Oblivion … is the fate … of all … things …”_

A Night Fury call sounds out from underneath before the rush of wind as the battle-scarred dragon form of Thane soars up from underneath the sea stack. He loops around before landing roughly on the rocky formation, smoke rising from his body from the impact of the explosion.

“ _Im … impossible …”_ the Nightmare rasps, too weak to do anything else.

“ _It’s not my time now,”_ Thane growls as he transforms back into his human form. His clothes and light armour contain black scorch marks from the collision of lightning and fire, his skin with some newly added scars and burns and sword drawn as before.

Thane walks over to the Nightmare, kneeling next to its body by the weakened underside. He places his free hand onto the blackened scales of the dragon, looking into the pale, dead eyes.

“ _Forgive me …”_ he murmurs to the true soul of the dragon lying before him and for the other Dragonborn as if they were standing with him.

He raises his sword up slightly before bringing it down, piercing the scales of the Monstrous Nightmare and thrusting it deep into the heart. The Nightmare gives a heart-wrenching roar as its life fades away, limbs coming up in reflex before dropping back down to never move again. The eyes of the dragon clench closed tightly before opening one last time. Instead of the cold, deathly eyes of before, the yellow colour of the species with pupil slits return, filled with pain, regret and relief as if it knew what it was made to do.

“ _Surrender now to your heart’s desire,”_ Thane whispers to the dragon as the final drops of life flow away, along with the rasping breaths and heaving torso.

Thane slumps backwards, letting go of his sword as the heart of the dragon beats its last. He lays back next to the now truly lifeless corpse, breathing heavily and coughing quite a bit from the combat.

“It … It had to be done.”

* * *

**_Training Arena, Berk_ **

**_Mid-morning_ **

The sun rises higher and higher in the sky as the trainees make their way down to the arena, each carrying a weapon of their choice. Shortly before they began their trek, Terry had gone around to each of their houses and asked them on behalf of Hiccup to bring a weapon down to training today.

Snotlout, after rummaging around in chests and barrels, chooses his rounded stone hammer with a studded and spiked metal ring connecting the stone hammerhead and the thick wooden handle. The twins, after hanging upside down from the rafters of their roof, decide upon taking identical small double ended spears, one head in the typical wedged shape of a spear head, the other having more of a single slanted blade. Fishlegs, after worrying and debating with himself for the good part of five minutes, reluctantly chooses a short, thick bladed dagger and a short sword, sheathing the dagger in a small pouch on the belt around his belly and the sword in an open slit in the same belt. Astrid, as soon as she’s told, goes straight upstairs and grabs her trusty double-edged battle axe.

As the five trainees arrive at the arena, curious as to the reasons for needing to bringing their weapons, they see Gobber hobble out of the arena.

“As much as I’d like to watch this, I’ve got other things to get on with,” Gobber says to them when they approach him.

“What is it? What are we doing?” Tuffnut interrogates, getting right into Gobber’s face with an accusing finger. “You know, don’t you? Tell us, blacksmith!”

“You’ll find out when you step into that ring,” Gobber answers, putting his hand in Tuffnut’s face and pushing him away, much to his chagrin.

“Oi! I am not finished with you, sir!” Tuffnut exclaims, flailing against the mighty hand of Gobber.

“Come on,” Astrid sighs, pushing past Tuffnut and Gobber. Snotlout and Fishlegs follow her with the twins pulling up the rear, Ruffnut hitting her twin with a rock to the face before dragging him off behind her. Tuff frantically paws at his face before becoming a little dazed.

“This is not over!” Tuffnut declares as Gobber hobbles off. “I will get my answers from you yet!”

When they walk down the ramp into the cold, stone arena the first thing they see are wooden barricades set up all over the ring, some upright, some slanted and some completely lying flat on the ground. A few more things are noticed by the trainees as they look around are that there are two wagons on either side of the entrance. One is filled with the wooden shields that they used to use in the old dragon training, the other stacked high with Gobber’s killing things. They also see that their dragons are lying along the walls of the ring, watching them warily, and that Hiccup is standing in the centre of the arena with Catherine over by the switch for the cage that is the Gronckle, Meatlug. From above, a couple of Vikings look down on those inside, curiosity persuading them to watch the training session.

“Hello, students,” Hiccup greeted, a knowing grin covering his face.

“… We’re not fighting our dragons, are we?” Fishlegs asks anxiously.

“No, you won’t be fighting your dragons,” Hiccup confirmed to the relief of Fishlegs. “However, you will be fighting today. Our focus today is combat training.”

“Combat training? Why do we need to train to fight?” Snotlout questions, clearly insulted and ready to boast as he pushes his chest out and holds his head high. “ _Some_ of us are naturals in the art of battle.”

“You will be fighting because you will soon be fighting in situations you won’t have ever fought in,” Hiccup explains. “None of you will ever have fought on or alongside dragons before, plus you have to be extra careful against the foes that will be sent our way.”

“I dunno. We’ve fought on boars before,” Ruffnut stated, gesturing to herself and her brother.

The others look at them both blank and surprised.

“What? Boar pits,” Ruffnut simply states as an answer.

“Pray tell us, good sir, why we have to be careful against said foes?” Tuffnut inquisitions in a formal tone, gaining a few glances from the dragons.

“Because the slightest burn or scratch from any of Death’s dragons can kill you,” Hiccup responds, clearly not joking. The expressions of the former teens instantly become worried and fearful.

“Seriously?!” the twins cry out.

“Will there be any enemies that won’t instantly kill us the moment they touch us?” Snotlout vociferated, his voice getting louder and higher.

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Hiccup says in a matter-of-fact tone that calms the trainees down a little until he continues. “The only one is the Dragonborn that was fighting in here yesterday. Malthazar.”

“The crazy one with the scythes?” Snotlout specifies as the fear returns to them all.

“Yes, and his compensations for not being able to kill you with a single scratch is to be able to transform into a Night Fury and that his magic and weapons draw upon death anyway.”

“So, in other words, if we want to survive, we have to be perfect?” Astrid questions, tightening her grip on her battle axe.

“Well, you at least have to be able to dodge just about anything,” Catherine calls out from the other side of the arena. “That or incapacitate them before they can attack you.”

“Oh great,” Astrid exclaims slowly and sarcastically.

“I thought I was the only one here that did that,” Hiccup muttered before walking away. Astrid, hearing him, brushes a couple of locks of her hair out of her face and tries to avoid looking embarrassed.

“Are we fighting each other?” Snotlout questions, glancing at the others.

“Hey, not problem there,” Tuff declares as he kicks his sister to the ground, snickering.

“No, you won’t be fighting each other,” Hiccup says as he runs over to them, pulling Ruff and Tuff apart before she could retaliate. “To get a better idea of what you can do when fighting in an unfamiliar situation, you will be fighting these people.”

Hiccup signals for Catherine to open up the cage. She complies, pulling down on the lever just like Gobber did eight years ago when the then teens were readying themselves for their first battle with a dragon. The wooden brace over the door rises up just like it did all those years ago, with their unknown foes hidden behind. The doors part as soon as they can, revealing the remaining Dragonborn; Draco, Spitshot, Spitfire, Natalie and Bomber.

“Oh, dear Thor …” Fishlegs whimpers as they step out of the cage, walking halfway between the cages and the trainees.

“The rules for these fights are simple,” Hiccup says as he begins to list them off. “Each combatant will select the weapon that they wish to use in their duel, including fists, with the optional inclusion of a shield. That being said, the use of magic and enchanted weapons is not allowed.”

The Berkians seem relieved at the news, relaxing a lot more as they realised that they would be using the same style of weapons. The Dragonborn seem unconcerned as they lay their weapons down on the ground.

“The duels will go until it doesn’t look like there’s much point in continuing.”

“And who will be the judge of that?” Snotlout pressed.

“Catherine and I will decide,” Hiccup answered.

“Wait, does that mean you’re not fighting?” Astrid asked.

“No. Not at this stage.”

“Oh … I would’ve liked to see how you’ve improved.”

“Maybe another time,” Hiccup said with a light chuckle. “Finally, you cannot leave the arena or go too close to the dragons, lest you want them to fight back.”

They all nod in understanding, moving their look from Hiccup to the dragons who return the gaze.

“Alright, who’s going first?” Hiccup asked, clapping his hands together.

“Me!” Snotlout shouted as soon as Hiccup finished, raising his fist into the air.

“Alright then. Your opponent will be … Draco!” Hiccup announced, the short Dragonborn stepping forwards in a cocky manner matched only by the smug look on Snotlout’s face.

“What weapon do you choose?”

Snotlout looks back and forth between his smooth stone hammer and his open hands. After a moment of constant looking back and forth between the two, he tosses his hammer behind him and balls his hands into fists.

“I choose to give Draco a bunch of knuckle sandwiches,” Snotlout declares, raising his fists in front of him.

“As you wish,” Draco smirks as he stands across from him with his arms crossed over his chest.

The other Dragonborn and trainees walk over to the right edge of the arena, opposite the dragons. They either lean up against the wall or sit down on the smooth floor as they await the bout to begin.

“When you’re ready, gentlemen,” Hiccup said before sitting down.

“Isn’t gentlemen a bit much?” Catherine giggled.

“Probably,” Hiccup laughed along with the others.

The brawl started with Draco simply unhooking his left arm and outstretching his hand, gesturing to Snotlout to bring it on. Snotlout with a smug smirk strides towards Draco, slightly angled in a boxing stance leading with his left side. When he gets within striking distance, Snotlout swings with his right fist aiming for Draco’s head. The Dragonborn fighter simply sidesteps out of the way of the punch, Snotlout stumbling a little on the follow through. Snotlout, a little surprised, straightens and swings again, first his left fist and then his right in quick succession. Draco sidesteps the first punch and rolls under the second, a complacent smile showing on his face as he straightens.

‘ _Let’s see you get out of the way of this,’_ Snotlout muses as he moves to attack again.

Snotlout’s third attack began with a fierce swing with his right fist. Again, Draco sidestepped the punch in an almost premeditated state. Snotlout then followed by pivoting on his right leg, turning his back to Draco and thrusting his left elbow at Draco’s chest. Draco ducks down to avoid it, Snotlout grinning at the movement. Following what he planned he used his spinning momentum to pivot on his left foot, dropping down and delivering a swift, strong uppercut aimed at Draco’s gut.

‘ _I’ve got you now!’_

Draco spots the swing and turns out, catching the fist with his left hand and pushing Snotlout in the back with his right. The momentum Snotlout had was now redirected against him as he was hurled a few yards, grunting and rolling as he hit the ground. Both pairs of twins, along with Natalie and Bomber, laugh at the result of the counter movement. Draco straightens with a cocky smirk, gesturing for Snotlout to come at him again. The Viking, fuming after his plan went disarray, scrambles back to his feet.

“You think this is a joke?!” Snotlout yelled seeing the amusement on Draco’s face. “You want the Viking fury?!”

“It’s a duel, Snotlout,” Draco retorted, setting himself again. “You’re meant to give me your all.”

Snotlout growls as his anger grows before bellowing out a battle cry, charging headlong towards Draco. Snotlout starts flailing and swinging wildly with little composure or regard, his sole aim to pummel Draco. Draco manages to dodge and block most of the punches until he is caught on the temple by a right hook while in a kneeling position. A little dazed, he then gets hit with a left hook before Snotlout brings his leg up and stomps, kicking Draco in the chest and knocking him back into a barricade.

“Hah! Who’s the man now, huh?!” Snotlout brags with some anger still in his voice, flexing his muscles in celebration.

Draco gets up off the barricade after watching Snotlout for a little, reaching for his head and twisting it twice, cracking his neck.

“Right, no more going easy on you,” Draco declares, flaring his nostrils.

“Oh-ho-ho,” Spitfire chortled, rubbing his hands together. “This is going to be good!”

The two fighters run at each other, fully intent on beating the other to a pulp. Both men swing their fists hard and fast and sweep and stamp with strong kicks, all the while avoiding most of their opponents blows by ducking, weaving, rolling and countering each other’s moves. Within a few minutes, a sickeningly loud crack is heard as Draco’s right hook slams into Snotlout’s face, breaking his nose and drawing blood as it begins trickling down his face. Snotlout wipes his nose after his little stagger from the punch. Wincing from the pain of the break and seeing the blood as he pulled his finger away just made Snotlout more irate, going nearly into a berserk state. One of the first things he does after his nose was broken was to drive Draco into a barricade, both the Dragonborn and the barricade toppling over. Snotlout then jumps on him and clocks Draco on his jaw with both fists. Snotlout then grabs Draco by the scruff of his shirt and raises his fist to pummel Draco into the ground, but is prevented from doing so when Draco kicks out from underneath, flipping Snotlout over and onto his back. Both get up to their feet, with Snotlout charging in using his head like a battering ram. Draco dodges to the side, grabbing Snotlout under his shoulders and hurling him across the arena as if he was tossing a sheep. Snotlout crashes through the barricade that he was aimed at, turning a good part of the wood to splinters.

“Alright … maybe we should stop it here,” Hiccup suggests as he looks at Snotlout struggling to get back up with blood pouring out from his nose.

“Why? I’m just getting warmed up,” Draco said bluntly, rolling his jaw around with his hand.

“Draco, now’s a good time to-”

Snotlout scurried to his feet, shouting incomprehensibly as he charged at Draco again, resuming their scuffle again.

“Maybe pairing those two up wasn’t such a good idea after all,” Catherine suggested to Hiccup with concern. “At this stage, we’re going to be two members short.”

“I know,” Hiccup agrees, getting to his feet. “Guys, that’s enough!”

The two don’t hear him at all as they brawl it out, getting more furious with each passing second. The main difference between the two is that Draco is nearing the point of losing control, while Snotlout has well-and-truly passed that point. Hiccup runs out to try and separate the two, but he ended up being pushed back by the two. He tries again to no avail, even when Bomber, Astrid, Catherine and Natalie run out to help him.

“Enough, you two!” Bomber booms, attempting to wedge them apart.

“Draco, stop!” Catherine pleads, tugging hard on his arms. “Please stop this.”

“It’s over, Snotlout!” Astrid strained as she tried to push him away.

Draco glances over to the dragons and utters some growls towards Hookfang. The Nightmare rolled his eyes, yawned and got to his feet. He casually walked over to the commotion and lifted Snotlout up by the back collar of his shirt, thanks in part from Draco letting the Viking go and pushing him away.

“ _Thank you, Hookfang,”_ Hiccup spoke to the Nightmare while he, Astrid, Catherine and Bomber surround Draco to prevent another scuffle. “ _Would you dropping him down outside the arena?”_

Hookfang gives Hiccup a curt nod and exits the arena. As he twists around due to the hold Hookfang has on him, Snotlout glares at Draco as he is carried out, pointing a finger at each of his eyes before pointing both at Draco. The Dragonborn holds both his hands up to signify that he wasn’t going to fight back, the four around him cautiously backing off.

“I’ll go tend to Snotlout,” Catherine stated as she walked out of the arena, following Hookfang.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Bomber said as he walked back to the others with Draco, the latter rolling his shoulders and jaw around tentatively.

After a half hour passes, which involved picking up the remnants of the broken barricades, washing the blood off of the arena floor and Catherine tending to the wounds of both Draco and Snotlout, every man, woman and dragon are back inside the arena with Hiccup standing in front of them all, the two combatants considerably calmer as they accepted the fact that it was just a training fight.

“I think it’s safe to say that that was not the intended outcome,” Hiccup said addressing everyone. “What was meant to be a simple duel got out of hand for a while.”

“What is the point of having these fights, Hiccup? Astrid asked, leaning up against the wall.

“The point in having these fights was to highlight the weaknesses in your fighting styles and show you what you need to work on,” Hiccup explained. “That way, if your flaws were improved upon it would benefit you all as warriors.”

“Hmm … it makes sense in theory,” Fishlegs pondered, with some other concurring murmurs from the others.

“Unfortunately, things got out of hand in the first fight,” Hiccup continued, Draco and Snotlout rubbing the back of their necks awkwardly.

“However, seeing as we all should now be expecting an outburst like that-”

“Uh … you didn’t expect it before?” Snotlout scoffed, his voice clogged up due to the bloody cloth plugs in his nose. “We’re Vikings, Hiccup. Remember?”

“Yes, thank you for that timely reminder, Snotlout,” Hiccup responded. “Anyway, we can continue with this and see how the next couple of fights go, or we can instead do some other training exercises with your dragons instead. Which would you prefer?”

The trainees and Draognborn look at one another for a while, contemplating their answer, before all turning back to Hiccup. They all open their mouths at once, breathing in simultaneously.

“Okay … creepy …” Hiccup says warily. “What do you want to do?”

“HICCUP?!” a young voice calls out from outside the arena.

“Uh … who was that?” Snotlout asked.

“That sounded like Terry,” Natalie replied, looking up at the sky.

Sure enough, shortly afterwards, Terry runs into the arena and up to Hiccup, doubled over and panting heavily.

“Terry? What’s wrong?” Hiccup queries, kneeling down on one knee to look the young Dragonborn in the eye.

“Thane … meeting … Camp … everyone …” Terry wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

“Whoa, whoa, take your time,” Hiccup urges, putting a hand on Terry’s shoulder. The other Dragonborn and trainees come over, gathering around the young boy.

“Thane has called a meeting at the Camp,” Terry reported after gathering his breath. “He wants everyone there, both Dragonborn and trainees.”

“Did he say why?” Catherine pressed.

“No,” Terry answers shaking his head, still panting slightly. “Though … he didn’t look too good … and it sounded like he had a … dragon with him … somewhere …”

“Alright then,” Hiccup said, standing back up. “Thank you, Terry. Are you right to trek back?”

“Yeah …” Terry assured. “Just give me … a few minutes.”

“Take as much time as you need,” Catherine said smiling, crouching next to Terry and rubbing his back.

“Alright gang, let’s pack this place up,” Hiccup instructed, turning to the Berkians, Natalie, Draco and Bomber. “Today’s session is put on hold for now.”

* * *

**_The Cove, Berk_ **

**_Midday_ **

After locking up the arena, the Dragonborn and Dragon Trainees make their way to the Dragonborn Camp in the Cove, led by Terry. The Dragonborn lead the large group up front with the Berkians a few steps behind them. Upon arriving at the camp, they all see Stoick, Gobber, Silent Sven, Spitelout, Elder Gothi and Phlegma the Fierce already present, most looking around marvelling at the camp structure and the tents.

“Dad? What are you doing here?” Hiccup asks the chief as they approach the Vikings.

“Your leader asked us to be here,” Stoick answered simply, looking at the big tent in the centre of the camp.

“But why?”

“Ah, he sent word saying that he would like the leading Berkians to come to an emergency meeting that you all were having. So, with some deliberation, the council ‘volunteered’ to come and see what he wanted,” Gobber explained.

“More like Stoick ordered us to come,” Spitelout muttered to his eye-rolling son, both leaning up against a boulder.

Both, for their responses, receive a solid whack over their heads from Gothi with her stick.

“And where is Thane now?” Catherine asked, on edge a little.

Gobber points over his shoulder to the big tent that was serving as the tactical, as well as Hiccup’s, tent.

“He wants us to all wait out here,” Terry warns as Catherine and Hiccup make to enter. “He was not in a good mood when I saw him.”

“He always looks grumpy though,” remarks Tuffnut, looking and shrugging at his twin.

“Yeah, so what’s the difference?” Ruffnut inquires, choosing a log to sit on.

“One is looking like he’s in a bad mood,” Spitshot began.

“And the other is that he is actually in a bad mood,” Spitfire finished, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

The Berk twins look at each other blankly, clearly not getting it.

“So … he just looks grumpy all the time?” Tuffnut queries, both pairs of twins looking at each other.

“Pretty much,” Spitshot confirmed, leaning forwards and resting on her knees.

“Oh, so kinda like Stoick, then,” Fishlegs compared out loud.

“I heard that!” Stoick called out sternly.

“Ooh … uh … s-sorry, chief!”

With both sets of twins and Fishlegs over in one group, Snotlout talking with his father and Phlegma, Sven and Gothi silently conversing, Gobber and Stoick laughing amongst the fire pit, and most of the Dragonborn talking towards the right side of camp, Astrid didn’t really have anyone to talk to. She spotted Hiccup walking towards the left end of camp and decided to follow him. As she followed she saw him move in between a tent with a Gronckle design, Bomber’s, and a Night Fury tent, Catherine’s.

‘Come on, Astrid. This is just Hiccup you’re trying to talk with,” Astrid tries to convince herself, rubbing her cheeks. ‘It’s just Hiccup. Just to pass the time. Nothing … nothing more. It’s not like you’re trying to … ask him out … o-or kiss him …’

Her eyes widen at the thought and her face gets flush. She starts to panic over the thought of Hiccup seeing her like that.

‘Damn it, Astrid! Pull yourself together!’ she yelled mentally at herself over and over, spinning and pacing until she hears to voices talking.

“Why do you think that my brother is taking so long?” Catherine’s voice floats on the air, reaching Astrid ears.

“I don’t know,” she hears Hiccup respond thoughtfully. “But whatever reason it is, it must surely be important.”

Astrid dives out of the way, going in between Bomber and a Nightmare designed, Draco’s, tents, keeping closer to Bomber’s tent in order to overhear the conversation.

“Do you think he found something? Maybe what we originally came here for?” Catherine queries as she rocks on her legs.

“It’s possible,” Hiccup answers, his hand over his chin in a thoughtful manner of expression. “Either that or he has a plan.”

“But why take so long for a plan?”

“Well, why show them something that may end up being used against us if someone doesn’t keep quiet?”

‘If someone doesn’t keep quiet … does that mean Hiccup doesn’t trust us after all?’ Astrid questioned herself.

“Touché,” Catherine said warmly, giving a small smile.

“There’s the Cat I know,” Hiccup chuckled, his lop-sided grin returning.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve just seem to have become glum the longer we’ve been here.”

“W-well I … I guess everything is just catching up to me …” Cat stammers.

“Don’t worry,” Hiccup soothed, taking her hands in his. “You’ve got us all here with you. It’s just like every other time.”

“Just with Death on our doorstep this time,” she laughed slightly, getting a laugh from Hiccup.

“Yes, I guess that’s true.”

Catherine gives Hiccup a warm smile and pulls him in for a soft embrace. Astrid peers out from around the tent just in time to see them hug each other, to her detriment. A pang resonates in her chest as she ducks back into cover.

“Thanks, Hic,” Catherine says, giving Hiccup a little peck on his cheek. “You always seem to know what to say to make me feel better.”

“Anytime, Cat.”

Astrid crawls away from the tents, not wanting to hear any more of their interaction together. She gets up and walks away when she’s sure that they can’t see her and when she’s in sight of the others.

‘Catherine … what makes her so special?’ Astrid questions glumly, letting her pain and jealousy get the better of her.

* * *

After a few more minutes, which in that time Catherine and Hiccup returned to the camp centre with the others, the Dragonborn and Berkians have set up a bunch of rocks and logs for seats around the fire pit. While they are talking with one another, Thane hobbles out.

“Yo, Thane!” Bomber calls out, walking over to the tent. “What’s the emergen … what happened to you?”

The leader of the Dragonborn still looks worse for wear, still carrying some fresh burns and scars from his clash with the tainted Monstrous Nightmare. His movements are stiff and taut, clearly not in good condition.

“It’s nothing,” Thane replies gruffly, feeling his right shoulder.

“Seriously, what happened to you?” Spitshot inquires.

“Sudden destruction doesn’t just happen, you know,” Spitfire added on.

“Or does it?” Tuffnut questions, looking up with a thoughtful expression.

“It does when you both are involved,” Gobber accuses, pointing his hook appendage at the Thorstons.

The twins look at one another before throwing themselves at Thane’s feet, bowing apologetically and fearfully.

“We’re really sorry, Mr Dragonborn, sir!” Ruffnut cries, keeping her face close to the ground.

“We, or she, or us … whatever! We didn’t mean to hurt you! We never knew!” Tuffnut pleads, unsure of what to do before proceeding to plant kisses over Thane’s boots.

“Wow. They’re just as pathetic as our twins,” Natalie marvelled, Draco nodding in agreement.

“One more attack like that and you’ll be getting a grenade in your bed!” Spitfire threatened, holding up a shrapnel shell in his hand.

“Please, Mr Night Fury … Dragonborn … Thane … leader, sir! Don’t turn me into something unnatural!” Tuff continued pleading, grabbing Thane’s legs and bringing him up a bit. “You can have Ruffnut! Do whatever you want to her! Just don’t hurt me!”

Ruffnut punches her twin brother in the small of his back, arching him forwards.

“Hey, you’re as much at fault here as I am!”

They start butting heads until Thane shoves them both away from him.

“I doubt either of you could have corrupted a Monstrous Nightmare,” Thane stated roughly, moving away from them.

“Hah! I knew it!” Tuff exclaimed, thrusting his hands up into the air in celebration. “I knew there was no way … Wait, what?”

“What are you talking about?” Spitelout questioned, everyone looking confused and expectedly at Thane.

“Death sent another scout here,” he explained, sitting down on a tree log. “A Nightmare, this time. He decided to ambush me up on that mountain.”

Thane points in the direction of the village, above it to the peak of Raven’s Point. They follow his point up to the clouds, the small signs of smoke still smoking slightly from where the flames burnt the green grass.

“Are you alright, brother?” Catherine queried with worry in her voice, sitting down next to her brother.

“I’m fine. But he managed to kill a mother Razorwhip who tried to help me.”

“A mother what?” Gobber asked, he and the other inhabitants of Berk having never heard of that species of dragon before.

“It’s a species of dragon that rarely ever shows itself to other dragons and humans unless it feels like it can trust them,” Bomber explained, giving them a short explanation of Razorwhips. “Very dangerous, but extremely helpful as an ally.”

“Ooh! I can’t wait to see one!” Fishlegs squealed giddily.

“Guys, can we get back to the topic at hand?” Hiccup asked, looking a little annoyed before turning to Thane.

“Hang on, Hiccup,” Draco interjects, holding out a hand. “You said it was a mother, right? Where’s the child?”

At that moment, the baby Razorwhip chooses to reveal itself, crooning softly as it trots out of Hiccup’s tent.

“Aww! It’s so cute!” Fishlegs squealed as the Razorwhip runs up to the group and stands in the middle, looking at everyone.

“Guys? More pressing issues right now than a baby Razorwhip,” Hiccup chastises, getting more annoyed with the situation.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Fishlegs apologises, a little embarrassed.

“You captured it, right? The scout?” Hiccup questions Thane, getting the conversation back on topic.

“Where is this scout now?” Stoick questioned, concerned for his village.

Thane paused, hesitating in his answer as he chose what to say.

“… It’s dead.”

“Dead?!” the Dragonborn blurt out together.

“You killed it?” Catherine quizzed, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Not so high and mighty now, are ye?” Spitelout goaded, grinning despite himself.

“I had little choice,” Thane went on. “It was in pain and would’ve died anyway when it crashed onto a sea stack outside the port. I just eased it and gave it a less painful passing.”

“At least it didn’t get away,” Draco muttered.

“It said something to me before it died which, along with the Razorwhip’s appearance, made me think that we need a few changes.”

“And what might these changes be?” Stoick questioned sceptically.

“Death has not been delayed very long by my trap on Dragon Island,” Thane stated, looking at the Dragonborn. “It should be safe to assume that he’ll be here in five or six days.”

Everyone shuffles uncomfortably at the announcement of just how little time they have left to prepare.

“Only a day or two delay,” Bomber calculated. “That’s not good.”

“Exactly. And, with no disrespect for your warriors,” Thane continued, turning his attention to Berk’s council, “Berk and its inhabitants are too few and weak in comparison to Death’s forces to be able to handle them.”

“Numbers do not win battles,” Stoick growled sternly, taking some offence at the notion of not being able to handle an army of dragons.

“And we have the best dragon slayers in the archipelago, in case you haven’t noticed,” Spitelout declared, the trainees cheering in agreement.

“Even if that was true, and I’m not saying it isn’t,” Hiccup replied warily, “Black Death would still overrun everyone.”

“So, with the acceptance of the council, I would like to ask for aide from some of the other tribes in the archipelago,” Thane said, looking at Stoick in particular.

“Which tribes were you thinking of?” Stoick questioned.

“The Berserkers and the Bog-Burglars.”

“WHAT?!” Draco and Spitshot exclaim angrily simultaneously, jumping to their feet. Spitfire, Tuffnut and Snotlout seem ecstatic at the announcement while the others look at the irate duo.

“You can’t be serious! The Bogs?!” Spitshot shouts, balling her fists up and thrusting them down.

“And the Berserkers?!” Draco yelled, stomping up to Thane. “Why in the name of Valhalla do we need the help of those ‘people’ and their stuck up, barbaric, idiotic chief-”

“ENOUGH!” Thane roars, silencing the whining duo. “I don’t tend to take anyone’s personal thoughts and feelings when I make these plans. The Berserkers are needed for their lethality and size of their army, while the Bogs are silent, stealthy and crafty. Attributes you need as a thief.”

“Just why exactly do they not like those tribes?” Gobber queried, nods from the other Berkians.

“Just personal reasons, like Thane said,” Spitfire jumped in, almost too eagerly.

“What does stealth have to do with open warfare?” Spitshot retorted, hitting her brother over the head in the process.

“Simply using brute force does not ensure that you’ll win a war, no matter what some people may think,” Thane explains, looking more so towards Spitelout. “Having the stealth and lethal abilities of the Bogs will give a different approach for us to use, plus they can also provide a solid last resort and a swift reinforcement.”

“Not to mention that they are, unfortunately, as good at burglary as they are at everything else,” Stoick mutters, annoyed.

“Well, if brute strength and numbers don’t win wars,” Draco dissected, picking up Stoick’s phrase from before, “then we don’t need the Berserkers after all.”

“Just because brute force doesn’t win wars, doesn’t mean that it won’t be needed,” Thane lectured. “So … ignoring these two quibblers, what are your thoughts?”

“We need to discuss this for a moment,” Stoick answers as the six members of the council look at one another. “Alone.”

“Don’t take too long,” Thane says as the council members walk away to the other side of the Cove.

The other Dragonborn, along with the baby Razorwhip, walk over and talk to each other, the baby dragon looking up and inspecting all the Dragonborn. Meanwhile the trainees walk up to Hiccup.

“I’m sorry that this had to get in the way of our training,” Hiccup apologises to the five as they approach him.

“Never mind that,” Tuffnut said, excited at the prospect of seeing the Bog Burglars again.

“What was up with those two?” Ruff asked, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at Draco and Spitshot.

“Well, Draco and Spitshot have a particular hatred for a member of each of the tribes.” Hiccup explains, sighing as he stands up. “Draco hates the chief of the Berserkers, Dagur the Deranged, while Spitshot hates Camicazi, the heir of the Bog Burglars.”

“And why do they hate them?” Snotlout queries, surprised. “Those guys are great!”

“How about we start with Draco?” Hiccup asks, receiving nods from the trainees. “Well, you know how Dagur became chief, right?”

“He kept saying that Oswald just ‘retired’,” Fishlegs answered.

“But he kept saying it creepily, as if there was something else behind it,” Astrid added.

“Yeah, it was weird.”

“Though it didn’t stop the peace treaty between our tribes being signed each year.”

The trainees acknowledge these opinions and accounts with nods to each other.

“I’ll try to fill in the blanks then. Just under a year after I left here, Dagur became chief the chief of the Berserkers due to his father’s ‘retirement’, as he has always put it. Our assumption is that he murdered his father because of anger over how the tribe was being led and his … deranged-ness.”

“A lot of people seem to agree with that,” Astrid stated.

“Anyway, since then Dagur has brought the Berserkers back to their aggressive, dragon slaughtering ways of old,” Hiccup continued. “Now, shortly after joining us, Draco, his Nightmare Swiftwing, and Natalie ended up landing on their island during a search mission they were sent on.”

“Natalie didn’t have her dragon?” Fishlegs asks, cutting in.

“No, she did. Her father was a Dragonborn, so she was already one with her Nadder Sharpshot.”

A collective “Oh,” sounded from the Berkians before they allowed him to continue.

“Dagur found them after a while because they were spotted during their descent. Their arguing didn’t help much either. Dagur attempted to kill Swiftwing the moment he saw her, alone in a ravine. Draco jumped in to protect her, which in turn caused Dagur to challenge him to a duel with Swiftwing’s fate on the line. If Draco won, he could leave with her unharmed. If Dagur won …”

“Then he got to kill Swiftwing?” Fishlegs squeaked, afraid of the answer.

“Precisely. According to Natalie, Draco fought the better of the two during the duel and was going to win, until Dagur resorted to some dirty tricks to ‘win’.”

“Tricks like what?” Snotlout asked, trying to not sound too interested.

“Low blows, interference from spectators by throwing in items for him and rocks at Draco and flinging dust in Draco’s eyes constantly.”

Snotlout slowly nodded, wondering when and if he should try doing those tricks in a duel.

“Dagur then went over to slay Swiftwing, but Draco recovered in time to knock Dagur out and escape with Natalie. Draco has never been able to forgive Dagur and has been plotting ways to get payback on him ever since. Coincidentally, Natalie hasn’t been as harsh towards him since then either.”

“Fair enough. No one would ever forgive anyone for winning dishonestly,” Astrid stated.

“So what about Spitshot?” Tuffnut asked. “What’s her problem?”

“Well, she and Spitfire are twins like Ruff and Tuff, in case you didn’t know.”

“Well, duh!” Ruff exclaimed. “You’re telling twins who are and aren’t the same. I think we’d be able to notice better than anyone else.”

“Yeah, and they’re awesome too,” Tuff went on, Ruffnut nodding in agreement. “We’re huge fans of their destructive nature.”

“Can I continue?” Hiccup queried, annoyed slightly with the interruption.

“Please,” Tuff urged in a regal, formal manner.

“Anyway … the twins took a trip to the Bog-Burglars tribe in order to build upon their skills and experience in thieving. During their time over on their, Spitfire and Camicazi met up and, for reasons unexplained, they became ‘friends’.”

“What?!” Snotlout and Tuffnut exclaim whilst the girls look grossly at the boys and Fishlegs breathes a relieved sigh.

“Some things will never change,” Hiccup sighs to himself before continuing. “After becoming ‘friends’, they grew really close together to the point that Spitfire was spending more time with Cami than with his sister.”

“Cami?” Astrid interjected, looking surprised.

“Oh, that’s what she asked me to call her when we first met,” Hiccup explained, which gave Astrid another pang in her chest.

“Oh …”

“So anyway, Spitshot was jealous of Camicazi for spending all her time with her brother. And when she gets jealous, she gets really jealous. You don’t really want to get in her way unless you know you can beat her or calm her down. So she challenged Cami to a thieving competition, in which whoever stole the most amount of objects at the end of the day won.”

“Was it close?” Fishlegs asked.

“Very. Spitshot managed to steal twelve swords, ten axes, fourteen daggers, two hammers, eighteen chickens, four yaks and three of the villagers’ underwear.”

“Whoa,” they all utter in shock and surprise, the twins being the most impressed and awed of the group.

“Yep. However, Camicazi won by a yak and three pairs of underwear, all of which she claims to have stolen from their owners while they were wearing them.”

“Cool!” the twins and Snotlout express, impressed even further.

“Gross,” Astrid vocalises, looking repulsed like Fishlegs.

“So Spitshot was left to watch for the next three weeks as Spitfire grew closer and closer to Camicazi, taking him away from her. Like Draco with Dagur, she still holds a grudge against Cami.”

“Well, that all seems fair enough,” Fishlegs stated. “I’m not surprised why they don’t want either tribe involved.”

“Well that’s the thing,” Hiccup pressed on. “Draco wouldn’t mind the Bogs helping and vice versa with Spitshot.”

“Ah,” Fishlegs utters simply.

“Thane, we have reached a decision for you,” Stoick announces as the six members of the council make their way back to the fire pit.

The Dragonborn and the trainees take their places around the pit, awaiting the response from Stoick. The council stand on one side of the fire pit, Thane opposite them.

“What is your verdict?” Thane questions the chief.

"We have decided …"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting little tidbit; the first part of this chapter was all my work. Razorwhips had just been introduced to the universe and I decided to run with it. 
> 
> So, this was the last of the pre-written chapters. I was given one last chapter by Incinerator1; their draft for the 10th chapter. I haven't written it yet, and am not sure when I will. So please be patient. If you're interested in my work, I'll begin uploading another HTTYD fic here in 5 days time. It's called Dragon Knight, Flames of Starlight. So, keep an eye out for it. 
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts. Any ideas, suggestions, thoughts, criticisms, all are welcome. You can also find me on Tumblr @thorongil82 if that makes it easier. Until next time, adios!


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